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LOUISIANA 

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Statistic^  apd  Ipforfflatiop 

SHOWING  THE 

AGRICULTURAL  AND  TIMBER  RES0UREE8, 

The  Opportunities  for  Successful  Investment, 
and  Information  for 

THE  FARMER, 

THE  MECHANIC, 

THE  LABORER, 
THE  MERCHANT, 

THE  MANUFACTURER 

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Wit!)  Compliments 

GENERAL  PASSENGER  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE 

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Rllssourl  Pacific— Iron  JTTauntaln  Route. 


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A  COMPREHENSIVE 
STATISTICAL  DESCRIPTION  OF 
THE  STATE  OF  LOUISIANA,  COMPILED 
FROM  LATEST  REPORTS. 


WOODWARD  &  TIERNAN  PRINTING  CO.,  ST.  LOUIS,  MO. 


(8-28- ’95.) 


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jr*HE  annals  of  Louisiana  will  always  be  an  interesting  chapter  in 
AJ  the  history  of  the  world.  It  does  not  concern  merely  the  area 
which  is  now  included  within  the  boundaries  of  the  present 
State ;  it  embraces  the  story  of  the  repeated  and  persistent  attempts  of 
France  to  found  an  empire  in  the  new  world  which  should  extend  from 
the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence  across  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi. 

The  Louisiana  of  the  seventeenth  century  extended  from  the  Allegha- 
nies  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  from  the  Rio  Grande  and  the  Gulf  to 
the  dim  regions  which  now  constitute  British  America.  It  was  first 
visited  by  Europeans  in  1541.  De  Soto,  the  Spanish  adventurer,  with 
his  followers,  explored  the  coast  west  of  Florida  to  the  Mississippi  river 
and  beyond,  and  he  visited  the  country  on  both  sides  of  the  river  where 
now  stands  the  city  of  New  Orleans.  In  1542  he  was  taken  sick  and 
died.  In  order  to  conceal  his  body  from  the  Indians,  his  followers 
buried  him  in  the  Mississippi  river,  at  the  point  where  it  is  now  met  by 
the  Red  river. 

In  1673,  Father  Marquette  and  his  Canadians,  starting  from  Canada, 
descended  the  great  river  from  Illinois  to  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas. 
The  river  was  again  descended  by  La  Salle  in  1682,  who  took  possession 
of  the  country  in  the  name  of  Louis  XI V.,  and  for  him  named  the 
land  Louisiana.  He  explored  the  river  to  its  mouth,  and,  returning  to 
France,  organized  plans  for  establishing  a  colony.  The  ship  failed  to 
reach  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  colony  landed  in  Texas.  It 
is  doubtful  whether  any  colony  was  established  in  Louisiana  before 
1699,  when  Iberville,  with  a  company,  attempted  a  settlement  at 
Biloxi.  This  was  the  chief  town  until  1702,  when  Bienville  moved  the 
headquarters  to  the  west  bank  of  the  Mobile  river.  The  soil  of  Biloxi  is 
very  sterile,  and  the  settlers  seem  to  have  depended  mainly  on  supplies 
from  France  or  Ban  Domingo. 

998196 


UNCLE  AND  AUNTIE — AFTER  A  DAY  S  WORK 


LOUISIANA. 


CIH,V5 

n  w  x . 

On  the  26th  of  September,  1712,  the  entire  commerce  of  Louisiana, 
with  a  considerable  control  in  its  government,  was  granted  to  Anthony 
Crozat,  an  eminent  French  merchant.  The  grant  to  Crozat,  so  mag¬ 
nificent  on  paper,  proved  to  be  of  but  little  use  to  him  and  of  no  benefit 
to  the  colony,  and  in  1718  he  surrendered  the  privilege.  In  th(j>  SaijrW 
year,  on  the  6th  of  September,  the  charter  of  the  Western,  or  Missis¬ 
sippi,  Company  was  registered  in  the  parliament  of  Paris.  The  exclusive 
commerce  of  Louisiana  was  granted  to  it  for  twenty -five  years,  and  a 
monopoly  of  the  beaver  trade  of  Canada,  together  with  other  extraor¬ 
dinary  privileges,  and  it  entered  at  once  on  its  new  domains.  Bienville 
was  appointed  governor  of  the  colony  for  the  second  time.  He  had 
become  satisfied  that  the  chief  city  of  the  colony  should  be  situated  on 
the  Mississippi  river,  and,  therefore,  in  1718,  New  Orleans  was  founded. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  the  engineer,  Panger,  reported  a  plan  for 
removing  the  bar  at  the  mouth  of  one  of  the  passes  by  a  system  very 
much  the  same  as  that  so  successfully  executed  in  recent  years  by 
Captain  James  B.  Eads.  It  was  a  mooted  question,  however,  for  some 
time,  whether  New  Orleans,  Manchac  or  Natchez  should  be  the  colonial 
capital ;  but  Bienville  had  his  own  way,  and  removed  the  seat  of  gov¬ 
ernment  to  New  Orleans  in  1722. 

The  Western  Company  possessed  and  controlled  Louisiana  some 
fourteen  years,  when,  finding  the  principality  of  little  value,  it 
surrendered  it  in  January,  1732.  In  1763  occurred  an  event  which  left 
a  deep  impression  on  the  history  of  Louisiana.  On  the  third  of 
November  of  that  year,  France,  by  a  secret  treaty,  ceded  to  Spain  all 
that  portion  of  Louisiana  which  lay  west  of  the  Mississippi,  together 
with  the  city  of  New  Orleans  and  the  island  on  which  it  stands.  The 
war  between  England  and  France  was  terminated  by  the  treaty  of 
Paris,  in  February,  1764.  By  the  terms  of  this  treaty,  the  boundary 
between  the  French  and  English  possessions  in  North  America  was 
fixed  by  a  line  drawn  along  the  middle  of  the  Mississippi  from  its 
source  to  the  river  Iberville,  and  from  there  by  a  line  in  the  middle  of 
that  stream,  and  lakes  Maurepas  and  Pontchartrain  to  the  sea.  The 
French  inhabitants  were  astonished  when  they  found  themselves  trans¬ 
ferred  to  Spanish  dominations.  Some  of  them  were  even  so  rash  as  to 
organize  in  resistance  to  the  cession,  and  finally,  in  1766  ordered  away 
the  Spanish  governor,  Antonio  di  Viola.  In  1769  Alexander  O’Keilly, 


5  — 


LOUISIANA. 


the  commandant  of  a  large  Spanish  force  arrived  and  reduced  the 
province  to  actual  possessions.  The  colony  grew  slowly  from  this  time 
until  the  administration  of  Baron  de  Carondelet,  but  under  his  manage¬ 
ment,  from  1792  to  1797,  marked  improvements  were  made. 


THE  FIRST  NEWSPAPER. 

IN  1794  the  first  newspaper  was  established,  The  Moniteur.  On  the 
first  of  October,  1800,  a  treaty  was  concluded  between  France  and 
Spain,  by  which  the  latter  promised  to  restore  to  France  the 
province  of  Louisiana.  France,  however,  did  not  receive  formal 
possession  until  November  30, 1802.  But  France  did  not  remain  long  in 
possession.  The  cession  to  her  had  been  procured  by  Napoleon,  and 
he  did  not  deem  it  politic  to  retain  such  a  province.  In  April,  1803,  it 
was  ceded  to  the  United  States,  and  on  the  tenth  of  March,  1804,  the 
United  States  took  possession.  The  price  paid  was  60,000,000  francs, 
besides  $3,750,000  for  French  spoliation  claims. 

In  1804,  the  territory  of  Orleans  was  established  by  order  of  Congress. 
The  rest  of  the  immense  purchase  was  at  first  erected  into  the  district 
of  Louisiana ;  then  in  1805  into  the  Territory  of  Louisiana,  and  in  1812 
into  the  Territory  of  Missouri.  At  the  time  of  the  American  possession, 
in  1803,  Laussat,  the  French  colonial  prefect  declares  that  justice  was 
then  administered  “worse  than  in  Turkey.”  With  the  American 
domination  came  new  ideas.  In  1808  a  civil  code  of  laws  was  for  the 
first  time  adopted  by  legislature  in  Louisiana.  It  was  based,  to  a  large 
extent,  on  a  draft  of  the  Code  Napoleon.  By  act  of  Congress  in 
November,  1811,  the  inhabitants  of  the  Territory  were  authorized  to 
form  a  constitution  with  a  view  to  the  establishment  of  a  State 
government.  The  debates  in  the  national  House  of  Representatives  on 
this  bill  were  long  and  interesting.  The  bill  having  been  passed, 
however,  the  constitution  of  1812  was  framed  and  adopted,  and  on 
April  30,  1812,  Congress  passed  an  act  for  the  admission  of  Louisiana 
into  the  Union. 

Three  months  after  this,  war  was  declared  against  England  by  the 
United  States.  The  contest  continued  until  the  treaty  of  Ghent, 
December  24,  1814.  But  before  the  news  of  peace  could  cross  the 

6  — 


LOUISIANA. 


ocean,  a  force  of  12,000  English  soldiers,  under  Sir  John  Packenham, 
landed  in  Louisiana,  and  made  an  attack  on  New  Orleans,  which  was 
successfully  resisted  by  General  Jackson  with  only  5,000  men,  most  of 
whom  were  militia  from  Tennessee  and  Kentucky. 

The  progress  of  the  State  from  this  time  until  the  outbreak  of  the 
civil  war  was  very  rapid.  Louisiana  had  a  large  interest  in  slavery. 
On  account  of  the  extensive  cultivation  of  cotton,  rice  and  sugar  cane, 
and  the  consequent  demand  for  labor,  her  slave  population  almost 
equaled  her  white.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  Louisiana  promptly 
took  a  position  in  favor  of  secession.  Its  ordinance  of  secession  from 
the  Union  was  passed  December  23,  1860,  by  a  vote  of  117  to  113.  On 
March  21,  1861,  the  same  convention  adopted  the  Confederate  Constitu¬ 
tion,  without  submitting  it  to  the  people,  and,  in  order  to  conform  it  to 
their  State  Constitution,  passed  amendments  for  that  purpose.  From 
this  time  until  the  close  of  the  war  the  State  Government  was 
nominally  in  the  hands  of  the  Confederates,  though  for  the  last  two 
years  of  civil  strife  its  territory,  for  the  most  part,  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  Federals.  Some  of  the  earliest,  as  well  as  the  latest,  scenes  of  the 
war  were  enacted  in  this  State. 

In  April,  1862,  Farragut’s  command  entered  the  Mississippi  river. 
He  succeeded  in  passing,  and  in  silencing,  Forts  Jackson  and  St. 
Philip,  which  defended  the  approaches  to  New  Orleans,  and  captured 
the  city  on  the  25th  of  April,  1862.  By  July,  1863,  all  the  Confederate 
strongholds  on  the  Mississippi  were  reduced,  the  towns  captured,  and 
the  river  opened  to  navigation.  In  1863,  General  Banks  brought  the 
Attakapas  country  into  subjection  to  the  United  States,  and,  in  1864, 
other  excursions  into  the  region  of  the  Red  river  were  made  by  him 
with  but  partial  success. 

In  April,  1864,  a  new  constitution  was  drawn  up  preparatory  to  the 
act  of  readmission  of  the  State  into  the  Union.  This  constitution  was 
ratified  by  the  people  in  September,  1864.  Under  this  constitution 
officers  of  the  State  were  elected,  but  the  general  government  refused 
to  recognize  the  constitution.  In  December,  1867,  another  convention 
was  called,  and  its  constitution  was  submitted  to  the  people  to  be  voted 
upon  according  to  the  provisions  of  that  act.  This  constitution  was 
adopted  March  6,  1868.  Louisiana  was  again  admitted  to  the  Union  on 
condition  of  her  ratification  of  the  fourteenth  amendment.  This  was 


AT  WORK  IN  THE  COTTON  FIELD,  LOUISIANA. 


LOUISIANA. 


done  on  July  9,  1868,  and  on  the  13th  of  the  same  month  the  govern¬ 
ment  was  transferred  from  the  military  to  the  civil  powers. 

Louisiana  is  one  of  the  southernmost  States,  and  is  bounded  on  the 
north  by  Arkansas,  on  the  east  by  Mississippi,  on  the  south  by  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  and  on  the  west  by  Texas.  The  western  line  begins  on  ihe 
Gulf  at  the  mouth  of  the  Sabine  river  and  follows  a  line  drawn  along 
the  middle  of  that  stream  so  as  to  include  all  islands  to  the  thirty- 
second  degree,  north  latitude,  and  thence  due  north  to  the  thirty -third 
degree.  The  northern  line  follows  this  parallel  of  latitude  to  a  point  in 
the  middle  of  the  Mississippi  river.  From  this  point  the  eastern  line 
follows  the  middle  of  the  river  to  the  thirty-first  degree  and  runs  on  the 
parallel  to  the  eastern  branch  of  Pearl  river ;  the  line  then  follows  the 
middle  of  this  stream  to  its  mouth  in  the  estuary  which  connects  Lake 
Pontchartrain  with  the  Gulf. 

The  State  is  290  miles  from  east  to  west  and  200  miles  from  north 
to  south.  The  area  is  a  superficies  of  about  48,000  square  miles, 
Louisiana  being  in  extent  about  equal  to  North  Carolina.  It  has  1,060 
square  miles  of  land-locked  bays,  1,700  square  miles  of  inland  lakes 
and  540  of  river  surface,  which  leaves  45,420  square  miles  of  land  area 
for  the  State. 


CLIMATE. 


SHE  climate  of  the  State  is  semi-tropical.  The  mean  annual  tem¬ 
perature  is  between  60°  and  75°  Fahr.  The  mean  temperature 
for  the  hottest  month  is  85°  and  for  the  coldest  month  about  45°. 
Summer  continues  for  five  months,  and  there  are  many  warm  days  in 
March  and  April,  October  and  November. 

The  fall  of  the  year  is  the  most  pleasant  season  in  Louisiana  and 
when  the  wind  is  northerly  the  sky  is  remarkably  serene.  The  transi- 
tion  from  winter  to  summer  is  by  an  extremely  short  spring.  The 
winds  are  generally  erratic  and  changeable,  blowing  within  a  short 
space  of  time  from  every  point  in  the  compass. 


—  9  — 


LOUISIANA. 


SURFACE. 


BY  a  singularity,  of  which,  perhaps,  Louisiana  offers  the  only 
instance,  the  more  elevated  ground  in  the  State  is  found  on  the 
banks  of  its  rivers.  No  part  of  the  State  is  much  above  400  feet 
above  sea  level,  and  the  average  elevation  of  the  whole  State  is  75  feet. 
Back  from  the  rivers,  especially  from  the  Mississippi,  are  found  swamps 
which  drain  the  arable  land.  Each  of  the  larger  rivers  flows  through  a 
bed  of  alluvial  soil.  In  the  case  of  the  Mississippi  it  varies  in  width 
from  ten  to  fifty  miles.  The  Mississippi  rises  at  its  flood  higher  than 
the  neighboring  land  and  inundates  it  where  it  is  not  protected  by 
levees ;  but  these  embankments  have  been  largely  increased  during  late 
years  and  are  constantly  being  added  to.  Thus  the  river  flows  on  a 
ridge  formed  by  its  own  deposits.  The  declivity  of  the  land  on  the 
east  side  of  the  river  towards  Lake  Pontchartrain  shows  that  the  earth 
which  the  water  of  the  Mississippi  deposited,  formed,  in  the  course  of 
time,  the  island  on  which  the  city  of  New  Orleans  now  stands.  All  the 
maritime  coast  of  Louisiana  is  low  and  marshy ;  that  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Pearl  river  to  the  Perdido  is  faced  by  low  and  sandy  islands,  of 
which  the  principal  ones  are  those  of  Chandeleur ;  besides  those,  there 
are  a  large  number  of  islets. 

The  swamps  extend  inland  from  ten  to  sixty  miles,  and  the  water 
courses  afford  the  only  means  of  approaching  the  coast,  except  when 
the  ridges  which  contain  the  rivers  approach  the  Gulf.  Here  and  there 
may  be  seen  a  live  oak  ridge,  or  a  small  extent  of  slightly  elevated 
prairie.  This  coast  region,  where  cultivated,  is  devoted  to  raising  rice 
and  sugar  cane. 


RIVERS  AND  LAKES. 

SHE  largest  river  of  the  State  is  the  Mississippi,  which  has  600 
miles  on  the  border  of  and  through  the  State.  At  its  mouth  in 
the  Gulf,  the  east  pass,  which  is  largely  used,  is  the  shortest, 
being  twenty  miles  in  length ;  the  south  pass  is  twenty -two,  and  the 
southwest  twenty-five.  The  bars  which  obstruct  these  passes  are  sub¬ 
ject  to  change,  but  immediately  on  entering  the  river  there  are  from 


-10— 


LOUISIANA. 


three  to  thirty  fathoms  of  water.  The  channel  of  the  river  is  very 
deep,  which  helps  to  preserve  its  course  at  flood  times,  when  it  over¬ 
flows  its  banks.  It  requires  much  thought  and  engineering  skill  to 
contain  the  mighty  stream. 

Eed  river  empties  its  waters  into  the  Mississippi.  This  juncture  of 
the  two  rivers  is  memorable  as  being  the  spot  on  which  the  army  of 
Charles  I.  of  Spain,  under  De  Soto,  towards  the  middle  of  the  six¬ 
teenth  century,  committed  the  body  of  their  chief  to  the  water,  in 
order  to  prevent  its  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Indians.  The 
Ouachita  or  Washita,  Sabine  and  Pearl  are  among  the  other  large 
rivers  of  the  State.  All  are  navigable  except  the  Pearl.  The  southern 
part  of  the  State  is  much  cut  up  by  rivers,  which  have  received  the 
local  appellation  of  bayous.  They  are  secondary  outlets  often  for  the 
larger  rivers  or  lakes,  and  furnish  a  means  of  draining  the  swamps.  In 
flood  time  this  network  of  bayous  is  almost  indispensable  for  carrying 
off  the  surplus  water.  Some  are  useful  in  navigation,  as  the  Achafalaya 
bayou,  Bayou  la  Fourche  and  Bayou  Bceuf.  The  name  bayou  has  come 
to  be  a  common  one,  and  is  applied  to  almost  any  sluggish  stream. 

Considering  the  low  level  of  the  land,  it  is  not  strange  to  find  the 
State,  especially  the  southern  part,  interlocked  with  lakes.  Along  the 
coast  there  are  Pontchartrain,  Borgue,  Maurepas  and  Sabine  lakes. 
These,  with  others  situated  along  the  Gulf  coast,  are  properly  lagoons. 
Along  the  river  lakes  are  formed  by  a  change  of  channel — the  deposit 
of  silt  gradually  cutting  off  portions  of  the  river  and  forming  little 
lakes.  This  happens  frequently  in  the  Mississippi,  and  sometimes  on 
the  Bed  river.  A  third  class  of  lakes  is  that  which  the  “  raft”  in  the 
river  at  flood  times  forms  by  causing  a  “set-back”  in  the  water. 
This  is  the  case  in  the  river  above  Shreveport. 


VEGETATION. 


SHE  alluvial  lands  furnish  a  soil  of  remarkable  permanence  and 
fertility.  Louisiana,  like  Florida,  is  a  land  of  flowers,  and  the 
flowers  yield  the  richest  perfume.  The  swampy  land  of  the 
State  is  covered  with  lofty  cypress  trees,  or  wide-spreading  live  oaks, 
from  which  hangs  the  Spanish  moss  in  long  festoons,  giving  the  forest 
a  most  weird  appearance.  The  trees  that  flourish  in  the  alluvial  regions 

—11— 


LOUISIANA. 


are  the  ash,  hickory,  sweet  gum,  walnut,  magnolia,  and  the  Spanish, 
black,  white,  post,  water  and  chestnut  oaks,  also  Florida  anise,  tulip  tree, 
linden,  lance-leafed  buckthorn,  acacia,  cherry,  holly,  pomegranate,  arbor 
vitse,  lime,  pecan,  tillandsia,  white  cedar,  red  cedar,  sycamore  and 
yellow  pine,  besides  the  willow,  cottonwood,  basket  oaks,  and  other 
similar  species.  On  the  uplands  or  tertiary  formations  are  found 
poplar,  elm,  maple,  honey  locust,  prickly  ash,  persimmon,  box  elder, 
dogwood,  hackberry,  mulberry,  sassafras,  tupelo  and  black  locust. 

The  principal  fruit  trees  are  the  orange,  pawpaw,  peach,  quince,  plum, 
fig,  and  olive.  In  the  tertiary  region  Indian  corn  yields  a  better  crop 
than  in  the  alluvial,  and  cotton  is  grown  here  as  well  as  in  the  alluvium. 
The  coast  lands  are  unsurpassed  for  the  production  of  rice  and  sugar 
cane  while  the  deltas  raise  sweet  potatoes,  buckwheat,  barley  and  figs. 
On  the  islands  off  the  coast  is  produced  the  famous  sea  island  cotton  to 
a  limited  extent.  Oranges  grow  abundantly  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
State,  and  their  blossoms  together  with  the  jessamines,  camellias, 
oleanders  and  roses,  as  well  as  other  flowers  native  to  a  semi-tropical 
climate,  make  the  air  redolent  with  perfume  through  nearly  the  entire 
year.  Almost  every  kind  of  fruit  common  to  a  similar  climate  is  to  be 
found  in  Louisiana. 


GEOLOGY. 

SHE  geological  formations  so  far  as  can  be  seen  are  in  no  wise 
complex.  The  Mississippi  and  Red  river  basins  covering  three- 
fifths  of  the  area  of  the  State,  are  alluvial  anddiluviaMormations. 
Some  of  these  deposits  are  sixty  feet  deep.  These  made  lands,  especially 
upon  the  deltas,  are  constantly  growing  and  pushing  out  into  the  Gulf. 
The  rest  of  the  State,  which  comprises  the  region  west  of  the  Ouachita 
and  Calcasieu  rivers  is  tertiary.  The  alluvial  region  belongs  to  the 
quaternary  formation.  In  the  tertiary  region  is  found  lignite  or 
brown  coal,  iron  and  salt  deposits.  The  salt  strata  on  Petit  Ause 
Island  has  been  extensively  worked.  In  the  southern  part  of  the 
State  there  are  sulphur  deposits  112  feet  in  thickness  which  yield  from 
60  to  96  per  cent  of  pure  sulphur.  Copper,"  jasper,  agates,  sardonyx,  and 
onyx  have  been  found  in  the  tertiary  region. 


—  12  — 


LOUISIANA. 


POPULATION. 


The  following  table  shows  the  growth  of  the  State  since  1810 : 


Year.  Population.  Density. 


1810 . 

.  76,756 

1.7 

1820 . 

.  152,993 

3.4 

1830 . . . 

.  215,739 

4.7 

1840 . 

.  352,411 

7.8 

1850 . 

... .  517,762 

11.4 

1860 . 

.  708,002  ‘ 

15.6 

1870 . 

.  726,915 

16.0 

1880 . 

.  939,946 

20.6 

1890 . 

. 1,115,000 

. . 

HEALTH. 


DR.  C.  P.  WILKINSON,  president  of  the  State  Board  of  Health,  in 
an  address  delivered  in  New  Orleans,  after  stating  that  he  would 
go  abroad  for  his  testimony  and  present  the  disinterested  evi¬ 
dence  of  outsiders,  quoted  the  words  of  William  P.  Stewart,  actuary 
and  vital  statistician  of  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company,  of  New 
York,  wTho  said  that  the  general  healthfulness  of  Louisiana  was  so  well 
assured  that  his  company  had  hastened  to  establish  its  agencies  in  the 
State.  Dr.  Wilkinson  then  compares  the  mortality  among  the  whites 
in  Vermont,  Tennessee,  Indiana  and  Texas  with  that  of  Louisiana,  and 
finds  these  facts : 

“Vermont  has  a  white  mortality  of  15.12  per  1,000;  Tennessee,  15.21 ; 
Louisiana,  15.45;  Indiana,  15.88;  and  Texas,  15.86;  or,  in  this  group  of 
known  healthy  States,  Louisiana  stands  superior  to  two  and  presents 
only  a  very  small  fractional  inferiority  to  the  others. 

“Returning  to  official  figures,  and  now  excluding  the  large  cities,  we 
arrive  at  tables  which  meet  our  purpose — the  relative  salubrity  of  the 
rural  portion  of  each  State. 

“The  highest  on  record  in  percentage  of  deaths  from  malarial  fever 
stands  Florida,  with  9.53  per  cent  of  its  total  mortality  from  this  dis¬ 
ease  ;  the  lowest,  Rhode  Island,  with  only  .08  per  cent.  In  between 
these  two  extremes  come  the  other  States,  those  adjacent  to  our  great 

—  13  — 


FARM  SCENE  NEAR  ALEXANDRIA — LOUISIANA 


LOUISIANA. 


streams  showing  a  higher  rate  than  the  others.  Arkansas  has  7.65  per 
cent;  Alabama,  7.36;  Mississippi,  7.06;  Louisiana,  6.06,  and  Texas,  6.04. 
Our  own  State  showing  more  favorably  than  any  of  our  neighbors,  save 
one,  in  a  mortality  springing  from  a  disease  largely  preventable  by 
ordinary  attention,  by  the  mass  of  the  people,  to  the  plainest  and  sim¬ 
plest  laws  of  hygiene. 

“The  least  infant  mortality  is  exhibited  in  New  Hampshire,  which 
has  20.88  per  cent  of  infant  to  the  total  mortality;  Maine,  23.57;  Ver¬ 
mont,  24.10;  California,  25.31;  New  York,  25.39;  Connecticut,  26.75; 
Massachusetts,  29  21;  Ohio,  33.36;  Rhode  Island,  33.69;  Oregon,  34.99; 
New  Jersey,  35.52;  Wisconsin,  35.61;  Pennsylvania,  36.15;  and  then 
Louisiana  with  38.05,  the  list  ending  with  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  the 
highest  rates  in  the  Union — Kansas  with  47.56  and  Nebraska  with  49.12 
per  cent.” 

In  this  list  Louisiana  is  not  preceded  by  any  other  Southern  State. 

The  oft-quoted  advice  of  Horace  Greeley,  “  Go  West,  young  man,” 
has  well  served  its  time  and  purpose.  But  the  Great  West  is  no  longer 
the  poor  man’s  paradise.  For  twenty  years  countless  thousands  of 
sturdy  homeseekers  have  followed  the  setting  sun,  and  the  West  is 
filled.  The  countless  thousands  still  seeking  their  own  vine  and  fig 
tree  are  now  looking  southward,  and  the  vine  and  the  fig  tree  are 
literally  and  of  a  surety  there  to  welcome  them. 

The  first  and  most  important  item  to  a  homeseeker  is  to  find  a  place 
where  himself  and  family  will  enjoy  good  health.  It  has  very  many 
times  been  demonstrated,  in  very  many  countries  and  by  many  people, 
that,  no  matter  how  serenely  the  goddess  Fortune  may  smile  upon 
mankind,  if  the  element  of  health  be  omitted  the  structure  is  not  only 
incomplete,  but  wrecked.  A  sick  man  cannot  be  happy.  He  may  have 
bags  of  gold,  he  may  have  lands  and  palaces,  he  may  have  influence 
and  high  station,  he  may  hold  scepters  and  the  destinies  of  nations 
within  his  grasp,  but  if  he  has  not  health  he  may  not  be  compared  in 
contentment  with  the  common  toiler  of  the  field.  We  claim  health  to 
he  regulated  by  climatic  influences.  A  cast  iron  man  will  weaken  in  a 
latitude  where  one  goes  to  bed  in  summer  and  wakes  up  in  winter. 
No  man  can  have  health  and  consequent  contentment  in  a  country 
where  for  weeks  and  weeks  the  sun  hides  its  face  behind  deep  banks  of 
lowering  clouds.  Old  Sol  is  a  great  health  maker,  and  where  the  sun 


LOUISIANA. 


shines  perennially  you  will  find  a  joyous,  happy,  contented  and  healthy 
people.  This  is  the  history  of  mankind.  Southwest  Louisiana  ?s  a 
land  of  sunshine — not  the  hot,  blistering  blaze  of  an  arid  deserl,  but 
the  rain-tempered  sunshine  of  an  April  morn,  where  life  in  its  most 
radiant  form  springs  forth  in  the  abandonment  of  luxuriant  ritality. 
It  is  a  land  where  the  birds  sing  in  fuller  octave,  where  the  flowers 
give  forth  a  more  subtle  perfume,  where  the  fruitage  of  Eden  is  granted 
a  more  delicious  flavor,  where  the  grass  takes  on  a  deeper  green,  where 
the  rivers  reveal  clearer  waters,  where  the  rich  garden  of  mother  earth 
holds  her  choicest  treasures,  and  where  God’s  greatest  work,  His  own 
image,  lives  every  hour  of  the  day,  and  enjoys  life  as  it  was  intended 
he  should.  The  next  world  is  a  speculation,  an  unrevealed  and  un¬ 
fathomed  boundary.  The  singers  of  Zion  may  tell  us  of  the  golden 
streets  and  inspired  harps,  of  the  lands  of  many  mansions,  but  no 
traveler  has  ever  returned  from  that  mysterious  bourne,  and  no  legend 
reveals  the  story.  This  life  is  real  and  earnest.  We  are  here  to  make 
a  happy  home,  or  dwell  in  halls  of  desolation,  just  as  we  elect.  It  is 
not  true  that  one  grows  indolent  and  heedless  beneath  the  benign 
influence  of  this  land  of  sunshine.  As  the  sea  voyage  instills  new  life 
and  ambition,  so  does  the  ocean  air  you  breathe  at  every  breath 
awaken  new  vitality  and  new  energy.  The  great  Gulf  of  Mexico  is  but 
a  few  miles  distant,  and  life  on  the  fertile  prairies  or  blooming  wood¬ 
lands  of  Southwestern  Louisiana  is  as  a  continuous  sea  voyage,  and  the 
soil  tiller  is  invigorated  and  strengthened  to  such  a  degree  that  labor  is 
a  pleasure  instead  of  a  dreary  round  of  endless  monotony. 


VARIETY  OF  PRODUCTS. 


COUISIANA,  contrary  to  the  general  impression  outside  the  State,  is 
capable  of  producing,  and  does  produce,  a  great  variety  of  agricul¬ 
tural  products.  The  writer  of  a  pamphlet  published  by  Welch 
&  Marye,  real  estate  and  immigration  agents  at  Alexandria,  essays  to 
enumerate  these  products,  and  says: 

“In  cereals  we  can  produce  oats,  rye,  barley,  buckwheat,  India  corn, 
sugar  cane,  a  great  many  varieties,  and  many  varieties  of  sorghum.” 

—  16  — 


LOUISIANA. 


Having  gone  thus  far  the  writer  pauses  to  insert  a  foot-note,  in  which 
he  “begs  the  reader  to  understand  that  he  speaks  advisedly’ ’  and 
then  continues  as  follows : 

“In  textiles  we  can  produce  cotton,  flax,  ramie,  and  jute.  The  writer 
has  never  seen  any  hemp  growing  in  this  State ;  but  cannot  but  believe 
it  would  succeed. 

“In  grasses,  the  list  is  simply  legion;  all  the  favorite  Northern 
grasses ;  many  Southern  grasses ;  and  several  far  superior  to  any  of  the 
former.  And  we  can  have  our  fields  green  the  whole  year  with  the 
richest  herbage ;  our  rainfall  and  heavy  dews  playing  most  important 
parts  in  summer  and  our  genial  sunshine  in  winter. 

“It  has  been  demonstrated  (as  a  corollary  of  the  above),  that  we  can 
raise  the  finest  stock— Short  Horns,  Devons,  Jersey’s,  Holstein’s,  and 
Galloways  in  cattle ;  that  we  can  raise  fine  mules ;  also  fine  thoroughbred 
and  trotting  horses — the  great  Lecompte  having  been  a  native.  Sheep 
of  almost  every  breed  have  been  tried  (except  the  Saxony),  and  South- 
down,  Merinoes,  Leicesters,  Cotswolds,  Shropshires  have  all  succeeded. 
It  is  one  of  the  best  sheep  countries  in  the  world,  in  its  pine  woods 
belt.  Hogs  of  almost  every  breed  have  been  tried  and  approved — 
Berkshire,  Poland  China,  Jersey  Red  or  Duroc,  Yorkshires,  Guinea, 
taking  rank  about  as  enumerated.  Here  and  there  one  commends  the 
Chester  White;  but  that  opinion,  we  think,  larger  experience  will 
change.  The  Irish  Grazier  no  one  now  regards  favorably.  It  is  a 
wonderful  country  for  poultry.  Hens  lay  the  whole  year  round,  and 
broods  of  chickens  are  easily  reared  at  almost  any  season.  This 
suggests  spring  chickens  ahead  of  competition  in  St.  Louis,  Chicago, 
etc.  Geese,  turkeys  and  ducks  are  all  in  high  feather;  having  a  beauty 
of  plumage,  a  health  and  flavor  of  flesh  quite  surpassing.  In  vegetables 
it  would  be  absurd  to  attempt  an  enumeration.  There  are  few  that  we 
cannot  successfully  raise.  Asparagus,  celery,  cauliflower  (thought  only 
a  little  while  ago  to  be  barred  by  our  climate) ,  we  have  demonstrated 
that  we  can  successfully  produce.  Horse-radish  we  can  raise  to 
perfection.  In  fruits,  the  list  is  endless  almost  in  its  varieties :  oranges, 
bananas,  peaches,  pears,  apples,  quinces,  grapes,  blackberries,  dew¬ 
berries,  raspberries,  strawberries,  pomegranates,  figs,  Japan  persim¬ 
mons,  plums,  apricots,  nectarines,  Japan  plums,  whortleberries, 
mayhaw,  sloe.  We  firmly  expect  to  see  this  State  take  great  prom- 

—  17  — 


LOUISIANA  SCENERY 


LOUISIANA. 


inence  in  grape-growing  in  the  next  few  years.  We  have  some 
information  as  to  foreign  grapes  that  promises  great  things.  We  are 
assured  that  the  Delaware  is  a  grand  success  near  Alexandria.  If  this 
be  so,  it  will  mean  a  great  deal  for  the  country.  Raising  early  fruits 
and  vegetables  will  be  a  matter  of  course  in  the  future.  A  very 
superior  pecan  has  come  to  the  front,  introduced  by  Mr.  W.  R.  Stuart, 
of  Mississippi,  and  we  have  been  shown  by  him  one  superior  to  any  he 
has  yet  disclosed  to  the  public.  A  pecan  orchard  of  this  superior  nut  is 
one  of  the  best  heritages  one  can  leave  children.  Chestnuts,  filberts, 
almonds,  walnuts  (black  and  white)  can  be  successfully  produced. 

4 ‘Tobacco,  ginger,  indigo,  tea — these  are  some  of  the  products  we  do 
not  classify. 

“There  is  a  spirit  of  experimentation  pervading  the  people  generally. 
The  agricultural  fairs,  the  Farmers’  Alliance,  and  the  experimental 
stations  of  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  of  the  State,  under 
the  charge  of  Prof.  Wm.  C.  Stubbs,  Ph.  D.,  as  director,  are  all  stimulat¬ 
ing  the  people.  Looking  through  and  around  the  whole  field  of  experi¬ 
ment,  it  is  doubted  if  there  is  any  investigation  so  broad,  so  scientific, 
so  aggressive  in  the  United  States  as  the  last.  The  experiments  cover 
agriculture,  horticulture,  stock-raising,  truck-farming  and  vegetable¬ 
raising.  The  trials  in  sorghum  and  sugar  cane  are  unapproachable. 
In  a  few  years  the  results  of  these  experiments  of  Prof.  Stubbs  will 
afford  the  most  authoritative  criteria  for  all  operations  in  the  farm  and 
garden,  and  he  will  be  regarded  as  the  spokesman  of  nature,  as  it  were, 
the  interpreter  of  soil  and  climate.  To  his  experiment  stations  will 
repair  the  future  enquirer  for  information,  as  to  any  line  of  industry  he 
may  think  of  engaging  in.  The  grape  grower  can  learn  the  best  variety 
or  varieties ;  what  will  and  will  not  succeed,  so  in  any  line  of  horticul¬ 
ture.  We  have  prefaced  thus,  because  we  propose  to  press  into  our 
service  some  of  Professor  Stubbs’  beneficent  work  in  behalf  of  the  State 
and  general  progress.  These  experiments  are  not  haphazard.  They 
are  based  on  methods  both  practical  and  scientific  (at  bottom,  much 
the  same),  and  show  there  is  no  land  in  this  State  that  is  not  amenable 
to  reclamation,  and  almost  illimitable  improvements.  The  basis  of 
experiments  at  Baton  Rouge  and  Calhoun  were  lands  that,  from  ordi¬ 
nary  standpoints,  were  next  to  execrable.  The  crops  produced  are 
certainly  inspiriting,  and  are  prophetic  of  an  exalted  plane  of  agricul- 

—  19  — 


LOUISIANA. 


ture  in  a  few  years.  We  commend  to  any  one  contemplating  a  rural 
vocation,  a  study  of  the  reports  of  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  of 
/he  State.  In  them  are  embodied  the  experiments  of  Professor  Stubbs, 
as  well  as  much  other  very  interesting  matter  relating  to  the  farm,  field 
and  garden.  We  now  give  some  facts  that  upset  the  idea  that  any 
lands  in  Louisiana  are  too  infertile  to  be  worth  culture.  In  1886,  Pro¬ 
fessor  Stubbs  raised  103  6-32  bushels  of  oats  at  Baton  Rouge.  The 
experiments  ran  from  a  production  of  fifty-one  bushels  per  acre  (not 
fertilized),  up  to  the  above — 103  6-32.  At  Kenner  Station  (where  the 
land  is  naturally  much  superior),  the  best  results  in  1887  were  79  7-32 
bushels  of  oats  per  acre.  In  1888,  at  Baton  Rouge,  65^4  bushels  of  oats 
per  acre  were  raised.  In  1889,  78.3  bushels  of  oats  per  acre  was  the 
best  result  at  Baton  Rouge.  They  encountered  a  severe  drouth.  Mr. 
McQuade,  at  Baton  Rouge,  raised  62  bushels  of  oats  per  acre,  on  very 
thin  land,  fertilized.  Experimenting  on  thirty  acres,  Mr.  Story  raised, 
in  St.  Bernard  Parish,  60  bushels  to  the  acre.  Mr.  A.  W.  McLaurine, 
of  Rapides  Parish,  says  that  he  seldom  raises  less  than  60  bushels  per 
acre,  a  not  uncommon  crop  here. 

“At  Baton  Rouge  there  were  17 %  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre  in  1888. 
In  the  same  year  at  the  same  experiment  station,  51  bushels  of  barley 
per  acre  were  produced.  In  1889,  Michigan  Bronze  wheat  yielded  19.9 
bushels  per  acre. 

“In  1889,  a  large  experiment  in  Irish  potatoes  was  made.  In  that 
year,  on  March  22,  three  hundred  and  three  varieties  were  planted. 
They  were  dug  on  June  21  and  22.  A  light  rain,  enough  to  produce 
germination,  fell  immediately  after  planting ;  but  from  that  time  until 
just  before  harvest  there  was  not  a  drop. 

“The  following  are  some  of  the  best  results: 


Bushels 

Bushels 

per  acre 

per  acre 

mer’ble. 

culls. 

Platts  No.  505 . 

.  299.2 

93.5 

Early  Perfection . 

.  187.8 

78.2 

Sunset . 

.  178.6 

88.0 

Nights  Early  Standard . 

.  178.6 

87.4 

Cay  ago . . . 

.  173,4  ' 

24.6 

“A  large  number  of  varieties  went  below  100  bushels  per  acre.  Only 
55  out  of  the  three  hundred  and  three  varieties,  or  10  per  cent,  gave  a 
yield  of  100  bushels  or  over  per  acre.  The  above  experiment  was  made 


—  20  — 


LOUISIANA. 


without  fertilizers,  if  we  do  not  misconstrue  it.  The  potatoes  were 
planted  at  a  wrong  time,  and  some  gathered  when  unripe.  And  the 
crop  is  not  a  criterion,  by  reason  of  need  of  rain. 

“ Another  experiment  was  conducted  at  the  same  place  to  try  the 
merits  of  different  fertilizers,  and  showed  much  greater  production. 
Space  forbids  our  giving  the  full  table.  We  select  one  fertilizer  as  a 
sample. 

Experiments  in  Fertilizing  Potatoes. 

Yield  in  Bushels  per  Acre. 


HOW  FERTILIZED. 

Nothing. 

1,000  lbs.  Cotton 
Seed  Meal, 

500  lbs.  Kanite, 
500  lbs.  Acid 
Phosphate. 

Name  of  Variety. 

Mer. 

Culls. 

Mer. 

Culls. 

Extra  Early  Vermont . 

67. 

134. 

279.5 

96. 

Nova  Scotia  Rose . 

144.5 

85. 

448.5 

187.5 

Mammoth  Pearl . 

200.6 

59.5 

376.0 

132.5 

Early  Beauty  of  Hebron . 

184.5 

89.5 

356.5 

191.0 

Early  Sunrise . 

154.5 

91.0 

444.0 

104.0 

Early  Snowflake . 

160.5 

148.5 

588.0 

140.0 

Burbank . . . 

336.0 

73.0 

490.0 

141.5 

White  Star . 

264.5 

850.0 

514.5 

123.5 

Peerless . 

143.0 

140.0 

511.0 

174.5 

“If  space  permitted,  we  should  be  glad  to  show  other  results,  under 
other  auspices,  in  potato  culture.  And,  for  the  same  reason,  we  are 
compelled  to  leave  out  the  crops  of  hay,  peas,  beans,  melons,  etc.,  etc., 
of  these  experimental  farms,  and  debarred  enumerating  the  varieties  of 
grapes,  peaches,  pears,  apples,  quinces,  plums,  strawberries  and  rasp¬ 
berries  that  are  on  trial. 


CORN. 

“We  now  give  an  enumeration  of  some  crops  of  corn,  made  in  vari¬ 
ous  parishes,  in  various  years,  by  persons  who,  in  most  instances 
(perhaps),  were  seeking  best  results  in  competition  with  their  neigh¬ 
bors.  The  results  were  always  (presumably)  achieved  by  the  use  of 
fertilizers ;  almost  always  either  cotton  seed  or  cotton-seed  meal.  Jack- 


21  — 


LOUISIANA. 


son  parish  in  1886,  reports  as  best  results,  50  bushels  per  acre ;  Lincoln 
parish  reports  from  60  to  87  bushels  per  acre ;  Ouachita,  62  bushels ; 
Rapides,  60,  on  common  sandy  soil ;  Richland,  50  bushels  per  acre ; 
Caddo,  87)^ ;  Webster,  85,  97,  117  and  1093^  bushels  per  acre.  In  the 
year  1887,  De  Soto  parish  reports  one  farmer  as  raising  75  bushels  per 
acre;  another,  119;  Union,  63  and  126  on  uplands.  In  1887,  Claiborne 
reports  from  68  to  100  bushels  of  corn  per  acre :  Bienville  reports  87>£ 
bushels  corn  to  the  acre,  on  hill  land,  fertilized  with  cotton  seed ;  Boss¬ 
ier,  several  farmers  raised  75  bushels  per  acre;  Calcasieu,  same  year, 
50;  Claiborne,  60  to  120  bushels  of  corn  per  acre;  Jackson  in  1887,  prize 
acres  produced  from  50  to  100  bushels  corn  per  acre;  Morehouse,  75 
bushels  corn  to  the  acre ;  Terrebonne,  60  bushels  corn  to  the  acre ;  Union, 
42  to  72  bushels  corn  to  the  acre.  In  1888,  in  De  Soto,  155  bushels  corn 
per  acre ;  in  Morehouse,  100 ;  in  Ouachita,  80 ;  Baton  Rouge  (Professor 
Stubbs) ,  79.6 ;  at  Calhoun  (experimental  station,  first  year  on  poor  land) . 
Many  parishes  that  make  no  show  on  this  list  have  far  better  soil  than 
those  producing  many  of  tho  above  corn  crops ;  better  man  any,  perhaps, 
with  very  few  exceptions.  These  results  in  production  of  corn  are  owing 
to  a  stimulus  to  improved  culture  and  fertilization.  To  whatever  they 
may  be  owing,  they  demonstrate  the  folly  of  people  who  assert  that 
Louisiana  is  no  corn  country. 

“Considering  that  the  crops  were  produced  (with  a  possible  exception 
here  and  there) ,  without  analysis  of  soils ;  that  the  land  was  not  in  best 
tilth;  that  the  experimentalists  were  generally  tyros;  that  the  soils 
could  not  have  been  at  their  best  (because  high  fertilizing  counts  best 
on  richest  soil),  but  on  the  contrary  that  the  crops  were  made,  often, 
on  poor  soils,  crudely  fertilized ;  considering  all  that,  we  think  it  is  a 
good  demonstration  of  the  recuperativeness,  durability  and  tractable¬ 
ness  of  our  soils ;  that  they  are  not  a  vexatious  problem  to  the  agricul¬ 
turist,  and  do  not  keep  him  in  waiting;  but  most  generously  respond  to" 
all  attentions.  And  the  easy  lesson  from  the  above  is  that :  Given  a 
fair  season,  decent  tillage,  and  a  dollar  or  two  of  cotton-seed  meal  to 
the  acre,  our  poorest  lands  will  bring  surprising  crops  of  corn. 

STOCK  RAISING. 

“Stock  raising  and  dairying  would  be  most  remunerative  industries 
here.  A  creamery  is  one  of  the  matters  that  ought  very  soon  to  materi¬ 
alize  here.  Professor  Stubbs  puts  the  former  matter  thus:  ‘That 


—  22  — 


LOUISIANA. 


dairying  and  stock  raising  can  be  made  exceedingly  profitable  all  over 
the  South  admits  of  scarcely  a  doubt.’  Of  course,  many  cattle  breeders 
south  knew  that  more  than  a  decade  ago ;  but  it  is  just  as  well  that  the 
facts  should  have  the  authority  of  his  name,  for  doubting  citizens  or  the 
distant  uniformed. 

“It  has  been  amply  demonstrated  that  mule-raising  is  perfectly  feas¬ 
ible.  The  demand  for  mules  in  Louisiana  is  greater  than  in  any  other 
State  of  the  Union  ;  and  this  is  the  market  of  ultimate  value.  The  cost 
of  raising  them  here  is  a  bagatelle,  compared  with  the  West.  Their 
health,  steady  growth  and  early  development,  in  fact,  every  desideratum , 
unmistakably  foreshadow  the  business  to  be  one  of  the  future  prom¬ 
inent  industries  of  the  State.  A  mule  can  be  turned  into  market  per¬ 
fectly  grown  and  broke  at  three  years  old.  A  fourteen  to  fifteen  and 
a  half  hand  mule  can  be  raised  from  a  fourteen  and  a  half  Louisiana 
mare,  when  bred  to  a  proper  jack.  * 

“Hay  making  can  be  made  exceedingly  profitable.  The  large  crops 
possible  with  our  rainfall  and  long  season  of  sunshine ;  the  adaptation 
of  our  soil  and  climate  to  an  innumerable  variety  of  grasses ;  the  fact  i 

that  the  South  still  imports  a  great  quantity  of  hay,  indicate  to  those 
who  would  make  hay  a  most  lucrative  business.  If  space  permitted, 
we  could  show  some  surprising  results  in  favor  of  various  clovers, 
timothy,  orchard,  red  top  and  other  grasses.  And  this  matter  of  grass 
all  the  year  round,  will  open  up  to  us  the  business  of  sending  in  fat 
cattle  of  choice  beef-strains  to  St.  Louis  and  Chicago,  early  in  the  sea¬ 
son,  before  Western  grass-fed  beef  are  ripe. 

“We  have  given  a  view  of  the  products  of  the  soil  of  Louisiana;  but 
there  is  a  world  of  riches  in  the  waters  of  the  State,  which  would  take 
large  space  to  enumerate.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  Louisiana  hai 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  for  her  storehouse  in  exhaustless  stores  of  the  most 
superb  fish,  along  all  her  southern  border.  And  here  are  to  be  found 
the  most  prized  inhabitants  of  the  deep ;  the  celebrated  diamond  back 
Terrapin  of  the  Chesapeake  waters ;  the  Prawn — known  as  shrimp — so 
dear  to  Englishmen;  and  the  oyster  of  superb  flavor  and  greatest 
abundance.  And  one  has  but  to  help  himself  to  these  wonderful  boun¬ 
ties  of  the  sea.  Then  Louisiana  has  fresh-water  fish  (of  entirely 
different  species  from  those  of  the  salt  water),  in  her  many  rivers  and 
lakes,  and  innumerable  clear-water  streams.  Indeed,  the  store  of  fish 

-23  — 


THE  PICKANINNY^  HEAVEN. 


LOUISIANA. 


is  a  wonder  to  those  who  are  fond  of  the  sport  of  fishing.  And  it  is  no 
exaggeration  to  say  that  Louisiana  has  an  unfailing  support  for  man  in 
her  waters  alone. 

“Then  the  supply  of  game — deer,  wild  turkeys,  squipels,  pubbite, 
quails,  wild  ducks,  wild  geese,  even  bears.  These,  and  other  game  afford 
not  only  delight  to  the  sportsman,  but  a  very  matbtial  element  of  sub¬ 
sistence  for  her  people.” 


SUGAR. 


BEFORE  the  war,  Louisiana  produced  more  than  half  the  sugar 
consumed  in  the  country.  In  1861  there  were  460,000  hogsheads 
made.  In  1865  the  product  was  only  16*000  hogsheads,  for  the 
war  had  practically  destroyed  the  industry.  The  industry  has 

wonderfully  expanded  since  the  beet  has  been  used  for  the  production 
of  sugar.  The  following  are  the\atest  facts  from  the  highest  authority, 
the  London  Grocer: 

“The  combined  crops  of  2,340,000  tons  cane,  and  3,660,000  tons  beet 
sugar  for  the  ensuing  season  represents  a  gigantic  total  of  exactly 
6,000,000  tons,  and  beet  sugar  which  two  or  three  decades  ago 

contributed  the  smallest  proportion  to  the  whole  available  supply,  now 
affords  the  largest,  and  makes  up  a  heavier  crop  by  1,320,000  than  that 
turned  out  by  cane  sugars.  It  is  also  worth  while  to  note  that 

the  yearly  consumption  of  sugar  in  this  country  is  equal  to  about 
1,266,000  tons,  so  that  putting  these  amounts  together  we  get  a 

total  of  2,766,000  tons  as  the  quantity  necessary  to  meet  the  regular 
wants  of  consumers  in  England  and  America,  which  does  not  allow 
more  than  3,234,000  tons  as  the  consumption  of  sugar  for  the  rest  of  the 
populations  of  the  universe  that  can  be  enumerated — a  fact  highly 
suggestive  of  the  pertinent  question :  Whence  shall  be  brought  sugar 
that  these  may  eat  and  be  filled?” 

From  1850  to  1860  the  price  of  sugar  was  low;  hogsheads  selling  at 
$40.00  each,  and  the  molasses  in  the  cistern  at  fifteen  cents  per  gallon, 
but  the  planters  made  money.  Indeed,  an  eminent  authority  says: 
“From  1850  to  1860  the  prosperity  of  lower  Louisiana  was  a  marvel  to 
the  inhabitants  of  her  sister  States.”  Lands  sold  readily  at  $50  per 

—  25  — 


LOUISIANA. 


acre,  and  highly  improved  plantations  at  higher  prices.  John  Dymond, 
President  of  the  Louisiana  Sugar  Planted  Association  says  that  the 
United  States  consumed  in  1888  nearly  1,500,000  tons  of- sugar,  most  of 
it  produced  abroad,  and  costing  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions 
of  dollars.  It  is  his  computation  (we  believe),  certainly  that  of 
Bouchereau  and  Professor  Wm.  C.  Stubbs — the  very  highest  authorities 
— that  the  State  of  Louisiana  can  produce  all  the  sugar  now  consumed 
in  the  United  States.  In  1888,  Judge  Emile  Rost  tells  us,  sugar 
was  manufactured  in  twenty-three  parishes.  But  the  area  of  possible 
and  profitable  sugar  production  from  sugar  cane  is  susceptible  of  great 
enlargement,  as  we  shall  show  hereafter  by  figures  from  Professor  B. 
B.  Ross,  of  the  Louisiana  State  University,  delivered  in  an  address  at 
Baton  Rouge,  La.,  in  February,  1891.  These  facts  are  a  revelation,  are 
electrifying,  and  have  a  most  startling  significance.  But  this  is  not  all. 
Professor  Stubbs  has  conclusively  demonstrated  that,  from  sorghum,  in 
Louisiana,  can  be  produced  nearly  or  as  much  per  ton  of  sugar  as  used 
to  be  made  from  sugar  cane  here  under  the  old  process  of  “open  kettle.’ 9 
And  sorghum,  being  supplemental  to  sugar  cane,  can  keep  in  employ¬ 
ment  an  expensive  plant  that,  under  sugar  cane,  is  in  use  only  a  few 
months  in  winter. 

The  demonstrations  of  Professor  Ross,  as  to  the  enlargement  of  area 
of  sugar  cane,  and  as  to  the  higher  sugar  content  of  sorghum  here,  we 
think,  conclusively  show  that  Louisiana  will  be  able  to  produce 
all  the  sugar  the  United  States  will  consume  in  the  next  fifty  years,  to 
the  value  of  not  less  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dollars. 

The  possibilities  of  sugar  production  from  the  beet  have  been 
demonstrated  in  the  West,  and  particularly  in  California.  If  European 
beet  sugar  could  be  eliminated  from  the  problem,  or  if  its  product  could 
be  curtailed  the  situation  in  our  favor  would  be  greatly  strengthened 
and  fortified. 

The  Grocer  says,  in  view  of  all  the  facts :  “Whence  shall  be  brought 
sugar  that  these  may  eat  and  be  filled?”  The  advanced  manufacture  of 
sugar  in  Louisiana  seems  to  turn  on  the  diffusion  process.  According 
to  Prof.  Ross,  there  were,  in  1888,  seven  hundred  and  seventy-six  sugar 
houses,  representing  $100,000,000  worth  of  machinery  in  Louisiana  sugar 
houses,  and  eight  or  nine  diffusion  plants.  There  are  not,  probably,  a 
dozen  diffusion  plants  as  yet.  Of  course,  a  diffusion  plant  will  work  up 


26 


LOUISIANA. 


a  great  deal  more  cane  than  the  old-time  process,  yet  any  one  can  see 
theri  is  abundance  of  room  for  this  last  great  innovation  in  sugar  man¬ 
ufacture.  Assuming  that  Louisiana  shonld  only  revert  to  the  number 
of  acres  in  cane  before  the  war,  in  round  numbers  certainly  ucjt  less 
than  a  quarter  of  a  million  acres,  and  that  each  acre  will  average  twen¬ 
ty-five  tons  of  cane  to  the  acre,  there  would  thefi  be  six  million,  five 
hundred  thousand  (6,500,000)  tons  of  cane.  With  the  utmost  work  of 
a  diffusion  plant,  there  could  only  be  worked  into  sugar,  in  the  course 
of  a  season,  one  hundred  thousand  tons  of  cane — the  estimate  of  John 
Dymond,  President  of  the  Louisiana  Sugar  Planters’  Association.  This 
would  leave  room  for  over  sixty  large  diffusion  plants. 

SUGAR  MAKING  ON  A  SMALL  SCALE. 

[A  paper  read  by  Major  J.  G.  Lee,  Assistant  Director  of  North  Louisiana  Experiment 
Station,  before  the  State  Agricultural  Society  at  Mansfield,  January  27th,  1893.] 

When  we  consider  the  vast  agricultural  possibilities  of  our  State,  vouch¬ 
safed  to  us  by  nature,  a  feeling  of  honorable  pride  takes  possession  of 
us,  but  when  we  consider  the  development  of  these  natural  advantages, 
of  fertile  soil,  of  ample  moisture,  and  of  salubrious  climate,  we  are 
chagrined,  that  so  poor  a  use  of  opportunity  has  been  made  by  us 
towards  the  development  of  our  resources. 

As  my  subject  relates  particularly  to  the  small  farmer  of  Louisiana,  it 
is  to  them  my  remarks  are  chiefly  directed.  Sad  experience  of  the  recent 
past,  has  brought  us  to  see  the  “error  of  our  ways”  in  pursuing  the  “all 
cotton  system,”  and  that  the  diversified  system  of  farming,  practiced 
more  or  less,  the  past  year,  though  forced  to  it,  finds  us  in  better  con¬ 
dition,  as  a  rule,  than  previous  years  have  found  us.  A  necessity  has 
proven  a  blessing.  Let  us  hope  that  the  prevailing  price  of  cotton  will 
not  entice  us  back  to  our  first  love,  excluding  other  crops,  but  rather  let 
us  be  even  more  persistent  in  following  the  new  and  better  system  ;  the 
system  that  raises  every  product  possible  on  our  farms  for  man  and  beast 
that  the  soil,  with  our  early  springs,  long  summers  and  late  autumns, 
will  produce,  the  only  system  that  will  develop  our  magnificent  agri¬ 
cultural  advantages,  and  make  us  prosperous  on  the  farm — it  is  the 
system  of  intelligent  diversified  farming.  Following  up  this  idea,  let 
me  add  one  crop  to  our  farming,  that  of  sugar  cane,  and  advocate  its 
manufacture,  on  a  small  scale,  into  sugar  and  molasses. 

Formerly,  the  people  of  North  Louisiana  looked  upon  the  culture  and 
manufacture  of  sugar  cane  as  something  belonging  to  their  more  opulent 
neighbors  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  and  believed  the  people  of 
that  favored  section  possessed  some  wonderful  alchemy  called  “sugar 
making,”  that  filled  their  coffers  with  gold.  The  term  “sugar  planter” 

—  27  — 


LOUISIANA. 


meant  a  personage  that  the  hill  farmer  almost  envied,  but  never  dreamed 
of  emulating. 

In  the  primitive  days  of  which  I  speak,  a  row  of  sugar  cane  in  the 
farmer's  garden  was  a  luxury.  My  first  recollection  of  this  staple  was 
a  short  row  in  my  father’s  garden,  planted  for  the  delectation  of  the 
children  of  the  family,  and  so  highly  prized  were  the  purple  juicy  stalks, 
that  they  were  oft6n  numbered  among  the  delicacies  that  fell  to  the 
share  of  the  small  boy  at  Christmas  tide. 

Finally,  not  many  years  ago,  a  progressive  farmer  grew  cane  and 
made  syrup  from  it,  other  farmers  followed,  and  in  a  short  time  rude 
mills  and  pans  were  erected  all  over  the  country,  and  cane  syrup,  for 
home  consumption,  had  discounted  that  of  sorghum.  At  this  juncture, 
the  North  Louisiana  Experiment  Station  came  upon  the  scene,  and  from 
that  time  on  has  given  its  best  efforts  towards  the  development  of  this 
small  industry.  Sugar  cane  was  planted,  machinery  bought,  boxes 
made  for  juice,  and  a  small  sugar  house  erected  in  the  fall  of  1890.  The 
entire  outfit  costing  only  $150  complete.  The  apparatus  was  just  such 
as  was  in  common  use  in  the  country,  consisting  of  a  Victor  horse  mill 
No.  1  and  a  1%  foot  Cook’s  evaporator.  How  well  they  have  availed 
themselves  of  the  opportunity  is  attested  by  the  fact  that  nearly  every 
farmer  in  our  vicinity  makes  his  own  sugar  and  molasses. 

4 ‘But  how  do  you  make  sugar?”  is  often  asked.  I  regret  that  my 
serious  illness,  two  years  ago,  prevented  me  from  responding  to  an  in¬ 
vitation  from  Mr.  Hewitt,  of  this  town,  asking  me  to  come  and  teach 
sugar  making  to  a  number  of  farmers  here,  at  a  named  date.  I  hope 
the  opportunity  will  present  itself  again,  for  we  are  anxious  that  this 
enterprise  shall  go  forward  in  North  Louisiana.  In  the  meantime,  a 
brief  description  of  the  process  I  presume  will  not  be  out  of  place  to-day. 

The  outfit  of  sugar  manufacture  on  a  small  scale  consists  of  a  one- 
horse  mill  and  evaporator,  boxes,  barrels,  etc.,  to  be  used  as  juice  tanks, 
and  a  sulphur  machine,  lime,  litmus  paper,  and  a  Beaume  of  hydrometer, 
to  determine  density  of  juice,  syrup  or  masse  cuite.  The  mill  should  be 
substantially  built  and  the  pan  placed  on  good  brick  foundation.  The 
rollers  should  be  kept  tight  to  insure  good  extraction.  The  bagasse 
should  be  pressed  until  it  comes  from  the  mill  broken  in  short,  dry 
pieces,  when  about  70  per  cent  extraction  is  obtained,  otherwise  not 
more  than  50  per  cent  is  secured.  It  is  bad  economy  to  grow  the  sugar 
and  then  throw  it  away  in  the  bagasse.  As  the  juice  goes  from  the  mill 
to  the  sulphur  box,  it  should  pass  through  metallic  or  cloth  strainers  to 
relieve  it  of  trash  and  finely  ground  cane,  which  is  objectionable  in  the 
after  work.  The  sulphur  machine  is  a  water  tight  box,  say  6  feet  long, 
2  feet  deep  and  1  foot  wide.  Inside  the  box  is  fastened  a  series  of  very 
shallow,  flat  troughs,  6  inches  wide,  running  lengthwise  one  above  the 
other,  with  an  oblique  fall  to  throw  the  juice  one  from  another.  The 


—  28  — 


LOUISIANA. 


juice  enters  at  top  of  box,  falling  directly  in  trough  No.  1,  runs  slowly 
down  and  falls  on  trough  No.  2,  then  back  on  to  No.  3,  etc.,  until  it  passes 
out  at  bottom  of  sulphur  box  into  a  50  gallon  juice  tank.  In  the  mean¬ 
time  the  fumes  of  sulphur  enter  at  the  side  and  bottom  of  the  box  and 
opposite  that,  where  the  juice  enters,  and  rising  up  is  absorbed  by  the 
juice,  the  excess  of  fumes  passing  out  at  top  of  box  through  an  escape 
pipe.  The  object  is  to  give  slow  transit  to  juice  so  that  fumes  may  act 
well  on  juice.  The  sulphur  furnace  may  be  built  3  brick  long,  2  wide 
each  way,  with  opening  at  front  large  enough  to  pass  a  small  iron  cup, 
in  which  rolled  sulphur  is  placed  and  burned,  a  pipe  conveying  the 
fumes  to  juice  box  as  described. 

The  objects  of  sulphur  are  three  fold,  1st,  it  disinfects ;  2d,  it  bleaches, 
and  3d,  it  assists  in  the  defecation  of  the  juice.  Instead  of  sulphur, 
bi-sulphite  of  lime,  prepared  by  Mr.  H.  Bonnabel,  of  New  Orleans,  may 
be  used  with  similar  results.  In  this  case  use  about  one  quart  of  the 
liquid  to  every  fifty  gallons  of  juice.  After  sulphuring,  the  juice  is 
transferred  to  another  fifty  gallon  tank,  resting  directly  over  the  evap¬ 
orating  pan,  where  it  is  immediately  limed.  Slack  lime  is  used,  to 
which  a  quantity  of  juice  is  added  to  make  a  thick  milk  of  lime.  Cane 
juice,  naturally  acid,  becomes  more  so  by  the  use  of  sulphur,  and  inver¬ 
sion  or  the  converting  of  sugar  into  molasses  rapidly  takes  place.  This 
milk  of  lime  is  added  to  prevent  this  inversion.  It  combines  with  the 
acids  and  other  deleterious  elements,  and  neutralizes  and  precipitates 
impurities.  Care  must  be  taken,  however,  not  to  add  too  much  lime. 
Blue  litmus  paper  must  be  your  guide  here.  If  you  dip  a  piece  of  blue 
litmus  paper  into  your  cane  juice,  the  blue  is  changed  to  red  instantly 
on  account  of  the  acids  present.  To  the  juice  now  add  the  milk  of  lime, 
gently  stirring  to  mix  well,  until  the  litmus  shows  only  a  purple  tinge, 
which  indicates  the  juice  to  be  near  neutrality.  At  this  point  stop. 
Let  the  juice  remain  awhile  until  all  precipitate  has  subsided,  when  it 
is  ready  for  the  pan.  The  pans  are  generally  divided  into  three  com¬ 
partments,  1st,  the  grande;  24,  the  syrop;  3d,  the  batterie,  with  little 
gates  connecting  each.  For  better  results  fasten  these  gates  down 
securely  to  prevent  leakage.  The  juice  enters  the  grande  first,  passing 
thence  into  the  syrop  and  batterie  in  the  process  of  cooking  raw  juice, 
following  up  in  the  grande,  the  first  compartment,  e.  g .,  the  boiling, 
throws  the  impurities  to  the  surface,  and  they  must  be  rapidly  removed 
with  perforated  ladles,  accompanying  the  pan.  After  the  juice  has 
been  skimmed  in  the  grande,  it  is  dipped  into  the  second  compartment, 
called  syrop.  Here  an  ebullition  is  obtained  which  permits  of  brushing 
from  the  surface  all  particles  of  dust  in  the  scum  that  rises,  by  means  of 
a  small  wooden  paddle.  The  juice  is  thoroughly  cleaned  here  and  con¬ 
centrated  to  a  density  of  thin  syrup,  say  20  to  25  degrees  Beaume,  when 
it  is  transferred  to  the  batterie,  where  it  is  cooked  to  the  sugar  point, 


—  29' 


LOUISIANA. 


which  is  40  to  42  degrees  Beaume,  or  until  the  thermometer  shows  a 
boiling  point  of  238  to  242  degrees  Fahrenheit.  The  valve  is  now  turned, 
and  the  liquid  mass  pours  into  coolers,  which  may  be  tight  wooden 
boxes  or  half  of  molasses  barrels.  Granulation  begins  immediately, 
and  in  twenty-four  hours  the  box  is  almost  solid  sugar. 

The  semi-liquid  mass  or  “masse  cuite”  as  it  is  called,  is  now  ready  for 
potting.  Take  a  good  flour  or  meal  barrel  and  bore  three  holes,  one  inch  in 
diameter,  equidistant,  in  the  bottom  of  the  barrel ;  insert  three  canes  with 
their  ends  beveled  into  these  holes,  so  as  to  form  an  outlet  for  the  molasses. 
The  barrels  are  then  placed  over  troughs  or  half  of  molasses  barrels  to  re¬ 
ceive  the  molasses.  The  masse  cuite  with  all  lumps  well  mashed,  is  now 
taken  from  the  coolers  and  placed  in  the  barrels.  The  molasses  escapes 
down  the  canes  and  out  of  the  barrel  into  the  tub  below.  In  a  few  weeks 
you  have  a  barrel  of  good  brown  or  yellow  sugar  and  several  gallons  eft 
molasses,  not  syrup.  The  molasses  is  better  than  syrup  and  will  keep  a 
long  time,  neither  fermenting  nor  granulating.  The  same  end  is  ob¬ 
tained  by  putting  masse  cuite  into  heavy  cotton  bags,  and  these  sus¬ 
pended  over  tubs,  etc.  If  quality  of  syrup  is  desired*  add  lime  to  neu¬ 
tralize  and  cook  as  high  as  42  to  45  degrees  Beaume, 

At  Calhoun  the  past  year  we  grew  21  tons  of  cane  per  acre,  the  juices 
analyzed  in  October  14  per  cent  of  sugar.  The  average  yield  of  sugar, 
per  ton,  for  three  years  is  126  pounds  and  8  gallons  of  molasses — the  ex¬ 
traction  of  juice  ranging  from  65  to  71  per  cent.  At  one  price,  2  cents  for 
sugar  and  30  cents  for  molasses,  we  have  the  neat  little  sum  of  $129.78 
as  the  gross  proceeds  of  one  acre.  These  results,  coming  as  they  do 
from  such  a  small  outfit,  may  seem  large  to  you,  but  they  are  within 
your  reach.  It  is  not  many  years  ago  when  15  and  20  tons  of  cane  per 
acre,  and  100  pounds  of  sugar  per  ton  of  cane,  were  considered  satis¬ 
factory  yields  in  South  Louisiana.  But  now,  sirs,  progressive  planters 
have  reached  30  and  40  tons  per  acre  and  200  pounds  of  sugar  per  ton, 
and  by  the  diffusion  process  250  pounds.  Science  and  better  methods 
came  into  their  fields  and  into  their  sifgar  houses  and  brought  about 
these  results,  and  when  these  things  shall  have  come  to  us  likewise,  we 
too,  can  increase  our  results. 

But  there  is  another  idea  so  important  in  this  connection  that  it  can¬ 
not  be  passed  by  without  notice.  I  refer  to  the  central  factory,  which 
is  growing  rapidly  in  favor  in  South  Louisiana  among  progressive 
planters,  indeed,  there  are  several  already  in  operation  in  that  part  of 
the  State.  These  factories  buy  their  cane  from  the  producer,  paying 
him,  according  to  the  sugar  contents  of  juice,  from  $3.75  to  $5  per  ton. 
I  nnderstand  the  system  is  highly  satisfactory  to  both  buyer  and  producer. 

Now  with  the  central  factory  in  view,  let  me  give  you  a  side  thought 
on  sorghum.  At  Calhoun  we  have  obtained  100  pounds  of  good  brown 
sugar  to  a  ton  of  sorghum.  However,  its  manufacture  by  the  milling 


30  — 


LOUISIANA. 


process  is  very  difficult,  owing  to  the  starchy  elements,  gums,  etc.,  etc., 
contained  in  the  juice.  It  cannot,  with  our  present  methods,  compete 
with  sugar  cane,  but  by  the  diffusion  process  of  manufacture  which  must 
accompany  the  central  factory  it  will  be  an  easy  matter  to  utilize  sor¬ 
ghum  for  sugar  production. 

We  know  that  our  sandy  soils  grow  a  tonnage  and  sugar  content 
second  to  no  country,  and  with  sorghum  to  supplement  our  cane,  we 
prolong  the  season  of  manufacture,  the  profit  of  which  is  an  important 
consideration  to  both  capitalist  and  producer.  With  our  resources  we 
can  accomplish  all  that  we  strive  for,  and  if  the  farmers  demand  a  cen¬ 
tral  factor}?'  it  will  come  to  these  hills,  and  luxuriant  fields  of  sugar 
cane  will  take  the  place  of  your  pine  trees.  Sometimes  when  looking 
over  the  results  of  our  experiments  on  the  poor  pine  hill  soils  and  note 
the  effect  of  intelligent  cultivation  and  fertilization  upon  crops,  I  fall 
into  a  reverie,  and  before  me  stretches  out  a  land  so  beautiful  in  its 
entirety  that  it  seems  the  El  Dorado  of  our  desires  as  the  touch  of 
progress  and  enterprise  is  laid  upon  it.  With  its  forests  of  timber  and 
its  waterways,  a  climate  unequaled  in  the  world,  a  soil  that  gives  us 
what  we  ask  it  for,  through  the  vista  of  coming  years,  I  can  see  Louisi¬ 
ana,  fair  and  unshackled,  crowned  queen  of  the  sisterhood  of  States,  a 
sovereign,  by  right  of  her  natural  gifts,  and  by  right  of  the  intelligent 
efforts  of  the  men  who  develop  her  resources  and  control  her  destiny. 

As  to  profits,  here  is  an  item  from  Prof.  Ross,  of  the  Louisiana  State 
University  that  will  settle  the  matter.  The  facts  are  with  reference  to 
the  central  factory  near  Franklin,  La. : 

“I  understand  that  that  establishment,  costing  $525,000  has  netted 
this,  its  first  season,  though  beginning  late  in  the  fall  of  last  year, 
$60,000,  more  than  10  per  cent  on  the  investment,  and  that  it  was  sup¬ 
plied  by  cane  at  a  cost  of  $4.75  per  ton ;  and,  bear  in  mind,  this  is  the 
price  it  could  afford  to  give  and  make  a  handsome  profit  with  prices  of 
sugar  ruling  extremely  low,  with  a  short  season,  on  account  of  com¬ 
mencing  late,  and  the  mill  probably  not  running  at  its  full  capacity  a 
good  part  of  the  time.” 

The  reasoning  from  the  above  is  (outside  of  any  of  its  facts)  that  if 
that  factory  will  pay  10  per  cent,  then  the  cane  of  Rapides  parish, 
yielding  a  higher  per  cent  of  sugar  per  ton,  outside  of  less  cost  in 
extraction,  etc.,  ought  to  yield  a  higher  profit.  It  is  quite  likely  that 
the  sum  of  10  per  cent  even  would  be  regarded  as  a  good  investment  by 
the  capitalists  at  the  North  and  East  nowadays.  But  the  above  invest¬ 
ment  in  plant  doubtless  means  something  ornamental  (or  otherwise), 
and  is  not  a  criterion.  It  is  given  as  a  fact  that  will  improve  the  prom¬ 
ise  to  investment,  the  more  it  is  examined. 


—  31  — 


LOUISIANA. 


Here  are  some  facts  of  more  exactitude  and  circumstantiality,  from 
Mr.  John  Dymond,  the  president  of  the  Louisiana  Sugar  Planters’ 
Association.  The  practicability  of  the  statements  leaves  nothing  to  be 
desired.  But  the  reader  must  be  very  careful  to  note  two  facts ;  that 
the  expense  account  is  burdened  by  a  high  price  for  cane,  $5.50  per  ton ; 
next,  that  the  profit  side  only  shows : 


120  pounds  first  sugar  at  5  cents . $6  00 

30  pounds  second  sugar  at  4  cents . .  1  24 

75  pounds  molasses,  at  1%  cents .  90 


“  A  sugar  house  to  consume  1,000  tons  of  cane  per  day  can  be  built 
for  $250,000.  It  could  produce  an  average  of  150  pounds  of  sugar  per 
ton  of  cane.  The  present  average  of  almost  any  community  where  such 
a  factory  would  be  located  will  not  exceed  100  pounds  per  ton. 

“If  such  a  central  factory  produced  but  100  pounds  of  sugar  per  ton  of 
cane,  or  the  common  average  of  the  community,  it  would  still  be  a 
more  economical  production  for  the  community,  because  of  the  greater 
economy  of  manufacturing  expenses  where  the  work  is  carried  on  in  a 
large  way ;  but  such  a  factory  could  pay  to  the  producer,  for  sugar  cane 
delivered  on  the  cars  or  at  the  factory,  fully  as  much  as  the  gross  pro¬ 
ceeds  in  New  Orleans  of  the  sugar  and  molasses,  from  the  average  sugar 
house  of  to-day. 

“Let  us  examine  the  figures,  and  ascertain  whether  or  not  they  would 


seem  to  warrant  this  conclusion. 

“The  good,  average  vacuum  pan  sugar  house  will  make  per  ton  of  cane : 

80  pounds  first  sugar,  worth,  at  5  cents  per  pound  . . $4  00 

20  pounds  second  sugar,  worth,  at  4  cents  per  pound .  80 

50  pounds  molasses,  worth,  at  1J4  cents  per  pound .  63 

Total . $5  43 

“The  good,  average  open-kettle  sugar  house  will  make  per  ton  of  cane : 

90  pounds  sugar,  worth,  at  4  cents . $3  60 

60  pounds  kettle  molasses,  worth  at  3  cents . 1  80 

Total . $5  40 


“In  other  words,  the  good,  average  sugar  planter  of  to-day,  after 
planting,  cultivating,  harvesting  and  manufacturing  his  crop,  putting  it 
into  cooperage,  transporting  it  to  New  Orleans,  and  then  selling  it  in 
the  open  market  receives  therefrom  but  about  $2.50  gross  proceeds  per 
ton  of  cane  consumed. 


-32- 


LOUISIANA. 


“To  prove  that  a  first-class  central  factory  could  take  this  same  cane, 
delivered  on  cars  at  plantation  where  produced,  and  pay  there  $5.50  per 
ton  for  the  cane,  and  transport  the  cane,  manufacture  and  sell  the  pro¬ 
ceeds,  and  declare  fair  dividends,  while  the  planter  who  produces  the 
cane  would  save  the  entire  cost  of  manufacture,  cooperage,  transporta¬ 
tion  to  market  and  expense  of  sale — we  will  take  figures  that  are  not 
only  possible,  but  that  are  below  actual  reported  results  of  past  season, 
but  occurring  in  different  sugar  houses. 

“The  first-class  central  factory  can  produce  150  pounds  of  sugar  and 
seventy-five  pounds  of  molasses  per  ton  of  good  cane,  or 


120  pounds  first  sugar,  at  5  cents . $6  00 

30  pounds  second  sugar,  at  4  cents .  1  24 

75  pounds  molasses,  at  1%  cents . .  90 


Total . . . $8  14 


“These  yields  have  been  surpassed  by  Gov.  Warmoth  and  by  Mr. 
Daniel  Thompson,  and  probably  by  others,  and  hence  may  be 
considered  a  safe  estimate  for  the  yield  from  good  cane  in  a  first-class 
factory.  Now,  in  regard  to  the  cost  of  manufacture  from  the  central 
factory  points  of  view,  experience  during  several  years  has  shown  that 
aside  from  the  cost  of  general  management,  engineer  and  sugar  maker, 
250  tons  per  day  can  be  taken  from  the  cane  yard,  put  through  the 
factory  and  the  resulting  sugar  and  molasses  be  placed  upon  the 
shipping  wharf  at  a  cost  for  labor  of  $70  per  day  or  tw  enty-eight  cents 
per  ton  of  cane.  Mr.  Daniel  Thompson  has  made  his  crop  with  a 
consumption  of  but  three  barrels  of  coal  per  1,000  pounds  of  sugar.  On 
the  basis  of  150  pounds  of  sugar  per  ton  yield,  this  would  be  three 
barrels  of  coal  for  6%  tons  of  cane  consumed  or  .451  of  a  barrel  of 
coal  for  one  ton  of  cane,  which,  at  35  cents  per  barrel,  would  make  the 
cost  of  fuel  15%  cents  per  ton  of  cane  consumed. 

“Experience  has  also  showrn  the  cost  of  lubricating  and  lamp  oils, 
lamps,  lanterns,  belting,  lacing,  rivets,  sulphur,  lime,  acids,  tallow,  etc.? 
to  be  about  12%  cents  per  ton  of  cane  consumed.  On  the  basis  of  a 
yield  of  150  pounds  per  acre,  one  barrel  costing  35  cents  would  be 
required  to  contain  the  yield  in  sugar  of  two  tons  of  cane,  making  a  cost  for 
sugar  barrels  of  17%  cents  ]ler  ton  of  cane  consumed.  On  the  basis  of  a 
yield  of  75  pounds  of  molasses  per  ton  of  cane,  one  barrel  costing  one  dol¬ 
lar,  wrould  be  required  to  contain  the  molasses  from  eight  tons  of  cane, 
making  a  cost  for  molasses  barrels  of  12%  cents  per  ton  of  cane  consumed. 

-33  — 


LOUISIANA. 


“At  35  cents  freight  to  New  Orleans  per  barrel  of  sugar  of  300  pounds,  we 
should  have  a  cost  of  17%  cents  per  ton  of  cane  consumed  as  cost  of  the 
freight  on  the  sugar,  and  at  60  cents  freight  to  New  Orleans  per  barrel  of 
molasses  of  600  pounds,  we  should  have  7%  cents  per  ton  of  cane  consumed 
as  cost  of  the  freight  on  the  molasses,  and  a  total  cost  for  freight  on  sugar 
and  molasses  to  New  Orleans  of  25  cents  per  ton  of  cane  consumed. 

“The  cost  to  central  factory  to  manufacture  and  deliver  would  then 
stand  as  follows,  viz. : 


Kailway  freight,  $6  per  acre  of  10  tons,  per  ton . . .  $0  60 

Labor  in  and  about  the  factory,  per  ton .  28 

Fuel  consumed  in  manufacture,  per  ton .  15% 

Oil,  tallow,  sulphur,  lime,  acid,  etc.,  per  ton .  12% 

Cooperage,  per  ton .  30 

Freight  on  produce  to  New  Orleans,  per  ton . .  25 


Total .  $1  71% 

Price  to  the  clientelle  of  the  factory  for  their  deliveries  of  cane 

on  the  cars .  5  50 


Total  cost  of  produce  of  one  ton  of  cane  delivered  on  the  New 

Orleans  market .  $7  21% 


“We  should  then  have,  taken  from  actual  data  now  current  in  our 
community : 


Gross  value  of  a  ton  of  good  cane  to  a  good,  average  vacuum-pan 

or  open-kettle  sugar  planter.. .  $5  50 

Cost  of  transporting  same  cane  to  central  factory  and  its  manufac¬ 
ture  and  the  delivery  of  the  produce  to  New  Orleans  market...  1  71 


Total .  |7  21 

Gross  proceeds  to  the  central  factory .  8  14 


Net  gain  per  ton . .  $0  93 


“Our  central  factory  should  have  a  contributing  clientele  producing  at 
least  50,000  tons  per  day. 

“The  profit  and  loss  account  of  the  factory  would  then  stand:  50,000 
tons  at  net  gain  of  93  cents,  $46,500,  and  against  which  we  should  esti¬ 
mate  the  following  charges : 


Salary  of  manager  in  chief . . .  $  5,000 

Salary  of  engineer . . .  1,500 

Salaries  of  sugar  maker  and  chemist.... .  2,600 

Salaries  of  clerks . .* . .  1,000 

Annual  repairs  and  insurance .  10,000 

Dividend  of  10  per  cent  on  $250,000 .  25,000 

Surplus  for  contingencies . .  1,500 


Total . . .  $46,500 


34 


LOUISIANA. 


“That  these  results  can  be  realized  every  man  familiar  with  the  indus¬ 
try  will  admit ;  that  they  have  not  been  realized  by  many  individuals 
seems  to  have  been  the  result  of  insufficient  capital  in  individual  hands, 
and  necessarily  suggests  the  advantage  of  combination  under  corporate 
management.  We  can  hardly  expect  to  produce  sugar  cane  much 
cheaper  than  we  do  now,  but  we  can  fairly  expect  to  get  much  greater 
yields  than  now  from  our  sugar  canes,  but  this  can  only  be  done  at  an 
outlay  too  large  for  individual  enterprise,  and  which  must  necessarily 
be  undertaken  by  corporations,  which  corporations  should  as  far  as 
practicable  be  made  up  of  the  contributing  clientele,  in  order  that  their 
and  their  factories’  interests  should  remain  largely  identical.” 

Here  are  some  figures  that  give  much  light  upon  other  points.  We 
are  sorry  that  we  cannot  give  the  name  of  the  author : 

“Such  a  state  of  perfection,  however,  has  been  already  reached,  that 
a  tonnage  of  thirty  tons  per  acre  is  not  unusual.  Now,  suppose  you 
strive  for  that  amount,  what  are  your  profits  at  $4  per  ton  ?  Say  you 
have  twenty  acres  in  cane  and  ten  in  corn ;  one  able  man  at  $18  per 
month,  and  two  mules  can  take  care  of  your  crop  from  January  1st  to 
November  1st,  ten  months,  with  a  little  assistance  in  planting  and  corn¬ 
gathering  seasons,  the  amount  of  wages  for  the  one  man  being  $180 ; 
supplement  this  with  $100  more,  amount  for  labor  to  grinding  season 
will  be  $280;  put  another  $100  for  new  implements,  repairs,  etc.;  total 
$380.  You  have  now,  after  saving  seed  to  plant  seven  and  one-half 
acres,  thirteen  acres  to  sell;  allowing  twenty-five  tons  per  acre,  total 
375  tons,  which  at  $4  per  ton  will  bring  $1,500.  It  will  take,  probably, 
$20  per  acre  to  place  the  cane  at  the  factory,  hence  the  expense  of  cut¬ 
ting  and  delivering  fifteen  acres  of  cane  will  be  $300 ;  this  added  to  the 
$380  for  previous  expenses  makes  $680;  deducting  this  from  gross  sales, 
leaves  a  balance  of  $820,  or  about  $54  net  per  acre.  Should  you  be  so 
fortunate  as  to  get  $5  per  ton,  your  profits  will  be  about  $79  per  acre. 

“In  conclusion,  it  may  be  said  that  the  central  factory  system  by  the 
diffusion  process  is  the  one  that  will  obtain  in  the  future.” 

Prof.  Stubbs  puts  it  thus,  in  an  address  in  the  year  1889 : 

“The  results  of  our  experiments  the  past  season  suggest  the  central 
factory  of  the  future,  located  everywhere  throughout  Louisiana,  fed  by 
cane  and  sorghum  cut  and  loaded  by  machinery  in  the  field,  topped  and 
cleaned  in  the  sugar  house,  diffused  and  clarified  in  the  cell,  concen- 

—  35  — 


LOUISIANA. 


trated  in  a  multiple  effect  and  granulated  in  a  vacuum-pan  by  exhaust 
steam;  the  dried  leaves  and  tops,  together  with  the  upper  white  joints, 
can  be  burned  with  the  expressed  chips  in  an  improved  Godellot  fur- 
nace,  and  perhaps  supply  all  the  needed  fuel.  Such  a  factory  combines 
the  maximum  of  economy  with  the  minimum  of  loss,  the  largest  results 
at  the  least  cost. 

“The  year  closed  is  believed  to  mark  an  epoch  in  the  cane  sugar  in¬ 
dustry  of  the  State.  Never  before  has  such  an  intense  interest  been 
awakened  in  the  economy  of  sugar  growing  and  sugar  making.  The 
success  of  the  diffusion  process  in  extracting  the  juice  from  the  cane ; 
the  excellent  work  accomplished  by  evaporation  in  vacuo ;  the  savings 
of  the  scums  and  settlings  hitherto  thrown  away,  by  the  filter  presses, 
the  presence  of  scientific  aid  in  the  sugar  house,  discovering  losses  hith¬ 
erto  unsuspected,  point  unmistakably  to  200  to  250  lbs.  of  sugar  to  the  ton 
of  cane  as  the  future  yield  of  Louisiana.  To  reasonably  doubt  this  is 
no  longer  permitted,  the  inexorable  logic  of  facts  having  convinced  the 
most  obdurate  skeptics.  The  open  kettle  must  go;  the  clarifier  and 
settling  tanks  must  be  dispensed  with;  the  open  evaporators  must  be 
supplanted  by  double,  triple  and  multiple  effects,  and  the  ponderous 
five-roller  mills  be  made  to  squeeze  the  water  from  the  diffused  chips, 
rather  than  the  juice  from  the  cane. 

“Of  old  good  things  all  are  over  old; 

Of  good  things  none  are  good  enough, 

WeTl  show  that  we  can  help  to  frame 
A  world  of  other  stuff. 

“The  central  factory,  with  all  these  foreshadowed  improvements,  is 
surely  coming,  and  the  prophetic  finger  of  the  history  of  this  checkered 
industry  points  to  it  as  the  climax  of  its  achievements.” 

The  American  newspaper,  published  at  St.  Charles,  La.,  has  this  to 
say  about  sugar  farming  in  a  recent  issue : 

“There  is  no  question  that  sugar  farming  is  the  most  profitable  of  any 
farming  in  the  United  States. 

“It  is  true  that  it  requires  either  time  or  considerable  expense  to  go 
into  this  business  on  a  large  scale.  It  would  require  the  outlay  of 
$1,500  for  seed  cane  to  commence  with  a  100-acre  field  of  cane.  But  in 
many  instances  sugar  factories  will  furnish  the  seed  cane  and  take 
their  pay  for  it  out  of  the  first  crop  raised.  But  if  the  intending  sugar 

—  36  — 


LOUISIANA. 


farmer  does  not  wish  to  risk  so  much,  he  can  purchase  enough  seed 
cane  for  five  acres.  The  cane  raised  on  this  the  first  year  will  plant 
twenty-five  or  thirty  acres,  and  his  first  five  acres  will  produce  a  good 
crop  the  second  year.  Thus  a  farmer  starting  with  five  acres  can,  by 
the  second  or  third  year,  begin  to  plant  largely,  and  also  begin  to  sell 
large  amounts  of  cane. 

“Perhaps  the  best  thing  for  a  Northern  farmer  to  do  on  coming  to 
this  country  and  opening  a  farm  is  to  commence  with  a  small  amount 
of  cane,  and  study  the  best  methods  of  cane  culture  in  the  light  of  the 
experience  of  the  Southern  cane  farmer .  While  he  is  doing  this,  and 
getting  a  supply  of  seed  cane  and  learning  the  business,  he  can  plant 
rice  and  make  an  excellent  living  and  money  besides.  Then,  after  two 
or  three  years,  he  can  enlarge  his  cane  fields  and  curtail  his  rice  fields 
if  he  so  desires,  or  continue  the  cultivation  of  both  crops. 

“The  sugar  farmer  will  need  to  change  his  crops  on  his  land  about 
once  in  two  or  three  years,  or  as  soon  as  one  planting  of  cane  is 
exhausted.  A  good  crop  with  which  to  follow  cane  is  corn  and  cow 
peas.  By  keeping  one-third  of  his  land  in  corn  and  cow  peas,  and  two- 
thirds  in  cane,  he  will  not  only  keep  his  land  up  to  full  fertility,  but 
will  also  produce  the  feed  needed  on  his  farm. 

“The  sugar  farmer  of  Southwest  Louisiana  is  destined  to  be  a  pros¬ 
perous  individual  if  he  exercises  energy  and  intelligence.’ ’ 


RICE. 


pSlCE  is  one  of  the  remunerative  field  crops  of  Southwestern  Louis- 
|  \  iana.  It  is  cultivated  ve.ry  much  like  wheat,  except  that  it 
*  requires  to  be  flooded  at  certain  stages  of  its  growth.  It  is  har¬ 
vested  and  threshed  with  machinery  similar  to  that  used  for  wheat. 
The  profits  of  raising  are  from  $25  to  $40  per  acre.  In  1886  the  South¬ 
ern  Pacific  Railroad  shipped  2,000,000  pounds  of  rice ;  in  1887,  4,000,000 
pounds ;  in  1888,  8,000,000  pounds ;  in  1889,  16,000,000  pounds ;  in  1890, 
50,000,000  pounds;  in  1891,  113,000,000. 

It  is  claimed  that  this  year’s  crop  will  be  fully  one-half  of  the  entire 
crop  of  the  United  States. 


—  37  — 


IN  THE  TIMBER  DISTRICT  OF  LOUISIANA. 


LOUISIANA. 


THE  LUMBER  INTERESTS. 

SHE  city  of  Alexandria,  the  county  seat  of  Rapides  parish,  is  in  the 
center  of  the  long-leaf  pine  district  of  the  State.  Within  a 
radius  of  seventy-five  miles  almost  all  of  the  long-leaf  pine  to  be 
found  in  Louisiana  stands  ready  for  the  ax  and  saw.  An  estimate  of 
this  pine  closely  approximates  the  enormous  total  of  forty  billions  of 
feet,  a  figure  which  is  far  beyond  the  comprehension  of  any  man. 
This  means  low  prices  and  a  bountiful  supply  of  building  material,  not 
only  to  Louisiana,  but  an  enormous  traffic  to  the  railroads  centering 
there.  It  ought  to  mean  the  construction  of  car  works  and  factories  of 
all  kinds  in  the  immediate  future. 

But  this  immense  lumber  area  only  foreshadows  a  part  of  the  huge 
cluster  of  industries  that  ought  to  diversify  the  future  of  Alexandria  in 
wood-working.  Near  at  hand  are  the  finest  woods,  which  are  a  con¬ 
trolling  factor  in  almost  all  conceivable  aspects  of  industries  into  which 
wood  may  enter.  Here  are  accessible  and  cheaply  obtainable  the  finest 
oak,  ash,  hickory,  sweet  and  red  gum,  yellow  poplar,  magnolia,  cypress, 
etc.  What  an  opportunity  all  these  offer  for  agricultural  implement 
factories,  wagon  and  carriage  factories,  for  manufacturing  furniture! 
If  the  paper  manufacturer  wants  wood  for  pulp,  he  can  find  inexhaust¬ 
ible  supplies  in  cottonwood,  or  in  sap  pine  at  nominal  prices.  The 
woodenware  manufacturer  can  have  unlimited  raw  material  in  our 
tupelo  gum,  the  choicest  material  for  his  purpose.  He  who  wants  to 
manufacture  ax  handles,  spade  and  hoe  handles,  spokes,  felloes,  etc., 
may  find  in  the  ash  and  hickories  superb  raw  material,  the  cheapest 
and  best.  He  who  wants  to  get  the  finest  staves  for  hogsheads  can 
find  cypress  and  white  oak.  Ash  makes  the  very  finest  oars,  in  especial 
request  in  the  English  navy.  Nothing  need  be  said  on  the  topic  of  the 
value  of  cypress  for  furniture,  sashes,  doors  and  blinds. 

Southwest  Louisiana  not  only  has  within  her  borders  as  fine  prairie 
lands  as  the  sun  ever  shone  upon,  rich  in  rice,  sugar,  fruit  and 
vegetable  possibilties,  and  splendid  orange  lands  that  can  successfully 
rival  the  best  orange  lands  of  California  and  Florida,  but  she  also  con¬ 
tains  some  of  the  most  extensive  and  magnificent  forests  of  valuable 

—  39  — 


LOUISIANA. 


timber  in  the  United  States.  From  Lake  Charles  northward  for  more 
than  100  miles  stretches  one  magnificent  forest  of  stately  pine,  cypress, 
magnolia,  oak,  ash,  etc.,  the  pine  predominating. 

This  pine  is  of  an  entirely  different  character  from  the  short-leafed 
and  loblolly  pine  of  Arkansas  and  Tennessee.  It  is  the  long-leafed 
yellow  pine,  the  finest  in  the  world.  This  timber  is  the  most  beautiful 
and  durable  of  all  the  pines,  and  it  is  used  wherever  it  is  introduced 
where  beauty  and  strength  are  desired.  It  is  rapidly  coming  into 
prominence  as  the  best  lumber  in  the  world  for  car  building.  It  makes 
the  finest  of  finishing  lumber,  the  best  flooring,  ceiling  and  dimension 
lumber  in  the  world. 

The  cypress  of  Southwest  Louisiana  is  the  finest  in  the  South,  and  is 
found  in  great  abundance  on  the  low  bottoms  of  our  numerous  rivers 
and  bayous.  This  cypress  makes  the  finest  shingles  in  the  world  and  is 
also  extensively  used  in  shipbuilding  and  other  building.  Cypress 
almost  never  rots.  It  is  light,  strong,  easily  worked  and  never-rotting. 
These  qualities  make  it  very  valuable.  It  sells  higher  on  the  market 
than  pine  or  almost  any  other  lumber.  It  is  so  valuable  for  shingles 
that  most  of  it  is  saved  for  that  purpose,  for  cypress  shingles  are  con¬ 
sidered  the  best  in  the  world. 

Magnolia  is  another  valuable  wood  of  which  there  is  a  good  quantity 
in  Southwest  Louisiana.  This  is  a  very  hard,  close-grained  wood, 
capable  of  receiving  a  very  fine  polish  and  almost  everlasting.  It  is  fine 
furniture  timber  and  also  unexcelled  for  wagon  hubs. 

Oak  of  the  finest  quality  is  found  in  great  abundance.  This  makes 
the  finest  wagon  and  buggy  timber  in  the  world.  There  are  the  differ¬ 
ent  varieties  of  white,  black  and  post  oak.  Mingled  with  the  oak  are 
generally  found  ash,  hickory,  pecan  and  other  fine  hardwoods. 

Of  gum  there  are  several  varieties,  such  as  sweet  gum,  black  gum, 
tupelo  gum,  etc.  This  timber  is  in  great  abundance.  It  abounds 
not  only  among  the  oaks,  but  also  in  the  cypress  bottoms  along  the 
rivers.  It  has  not  been  utilized  to  any  great  extent  as  yet,  because  the 
articles  for  which  it  is  best  adapted  are  not  manufactured  here.  It  is 
very  fine  grained,  tough  and  light.  It  is  excellent  barrel  timber, 
perhaps  equal  to  any  other  wood  grown  for  barrel  staves.  It  is  also 
first-class  box  material,  and  makes  fine  furniture.  When  our  mammoth 


—  40 


LOUISIANA. 


barrel  factory  is  built  here  gum  will  become  valuable,  and  will  increase 
in  value  when  we  have — as  we  surely  will  in  the  near  future — box 
factories  and  furniture  factories. 

Of  curly  pine  there  is  considerable.  This  is,  without  exception,  the 
most  beautiful  of  all  lumber.  When  highly  polished  it  rivals  in  beauty 
the  famous  mahogany,  and  even  surpasses  it.  It  should  be  preserved 
for  our  future  furniture  factory.  It  makes,  when  properly  dressed, 
most  beautiful  casings  for  door  and  window  frames,  and  is  unequaled 
for  fine  paneling. 

Lake  Charles  is  the  center  of  our  present  lumber  manufacturing. 
Here  we  have  ten  large  saw  mills,  with  a  daily  capacity  of  700,000  feet 
of  board  lumber.  We  have  three  shingle  mills,  with  a  daily  capacity 
of  more  than  200,000  shingles.  These  mills  are  all  on  the  Calcasieu 
river  and  lake  front,  and  the  logs  are  floated  down  the  river  in  large 
booms  towed  by  a  steam  tug.  The  Calcasieu  is  formed  by  numerous 
streams,  which  traverse  the  piue  and  cypress  forests  and  unite  into  the 
Calcasieu  river  some  miles  above  Lake  Charles. 

The  K.  C.,  W.  &,G.  Ey.  runs  northward  from  Lake  Charles  through 
the  very  best  of  the  pine  and  hardwood  forests,  and  will  soon  have  a 
large  business  transporting  logs  to  the  mills  at  Lake  Charles,  as  well  as 
transporting  lumber  from  the  mills  to  the  markets  of  the  North. 

While  the  mills  are  using  vast  quantities  of  logs,  but  little,  com¬ 
paratively,  of  the  immense  timber  resources  has  yet  been  utilized.  It 
will  take  many  years  at  the  present  rate  to  cut  over  the  pine  forests, 
and  by  the  time  that  is  done  they  will  be  ready  with  another  crop ;  for 
the  pine  forests  are  unlike  the  Northern  forests  in  one  thing:  when  the 
ground  is  gone  over  and  the  largest  trees  are  taken  off,  the  young 
timber  is  left  and  grows  about  the  rate  of  one  inch  each  year,  conse¬ 
quently,  in  about  ten  years  after  cutting  over,  the  young  trees  have 
grown  to  large  size,  and  the  timber  is  as  good  as  ever.  Thus  about  one 
crop  every  ten  to  fifteen  years  can  be  harvested. 


41  — 


PICKING  COTTON,  LOUISIANA 


LOUISIANA. 


COTTON  MANUFACTURING. 


OF  all  the  industries  to  which  Alexandria  offers  inducements,  that 
of  cotton  manufacturing  enjoys  supreme  attractions.  The 
advantages  of  location  of  a  cotton  manufactory  anywhere  in  the 
South,  on  the  scene  of  the  production  of  the  raw  material  is  now  a  trite 
topic.  Fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago,  New  England  contended  that  it 
was  preposterous  for  the  South  to  think  of  manufacturing  any  grade  of 
goods  from  cotton.  In  a  few  years  the  South  practically  drove  the 
East  out  of  all  lines  of  coarser  manufacture,  and  is  now  a  virtual 
monopolist  in  this  line.  The  South  is  now  entering  the  list  for 
supremacy  in  the  manufacture  of  the  finest  goods;  and  it  is  only  a 
question  of  time  and  judicious  location  of  manufactories,  when  New 
England  shall  be  driven  from  this  field  in  perpetual  abandonment  of 
cotton  manufacture.  The  struggle  in  this  line  will  be  more  severe 
than  the  former,  and  victory  will  perch  on  the  standards  where  the 
fields  of  conflict  are  most  wisely  chosen  South.  A  judicious  selection  of 
the  sites  of  the  manufactories  of  this  finer  class  of  goods,  will  play  a 
most  material  part  in  the  contest.  The  cost  of  site  is  an  important 
factor,  as  that,  in  a  close  contest,  involves  capital.  When  the  cost  is 
nominal,  it  affords  better  scope  for  competition.  Any  one  can  see  that 
the  advantages  of  a  manufactory  paying  nothing  for  site  over  one 
paying  fifty  to  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  are  great,  in  a  manufac¬ 
tory  costing,  say,  a  half  a  million  dollars. 

The  cheapness  of  building  material  is  another  great  element. 

The  cost  and  quality  of  labor  are  material  figures  too. 

Climate  is  another  consideration.  If  water  power  be  used,  that  is 
another  matter  of  consideration  too.  If  steam,  then  the  cost  of  fuel. 

But  perhaps  the  greatest  consideration  of  all  is  proximity  to  the  choic¬ 
est  cotton,  purchasable  direct  from  the  producer,  without  cost  of  trans¬ 
portation,  or  with  but  trifling  cost  in  that  respect,  and  without  the 
charges  of  middlemen.  Alexandria  possesses  all  these  advantages. 
The  combination  ought  to  make  her  a  peerless  site  for  the  manufacture 
of  the  fine  grade  of-  cotton  goods.  Here  can  be  secured  a  free  site; 


—  43  — 


LOUISIANA. 


cheap  brick  and  lumber  for  the  manufactory ;  cheap  labor  in  abundance 
can  be  secured  by  putting  the  young  people  of  the  neighborhood  in  the 
manufactory  as  operatives.  It  has  been  abundantly  tested,  by  years  of 
experience  in  Southern  cotton  mills,  that  this  labor,  under  short  train¬ 
ing,  has  answered  all  requirements  thus  far.  If  the  caviler  shall  allege 
that  a  higher  intelligence  is  requisite  for  the  manufacture  of  the  finer 
grades  of  goods,  the  answer  is  that,  while  the  demonstration  of  its 
efficiency  is  not  so  large  as  in  the  manufacture  of  coarse  goods,  still  this 
labor  has  met  the  demands  as  far  as  it  has  been  called  upon.  The  insig¬ 
nificant  number  of  Southern  cotton  mills  at  work  on  the  finer  grades  of 
goods,  only  constitutes  a  stronger  feature  of  inducement,  provided  the 
practicability  of  their  manufacture  has  been  demonstrated,  and  at 
remunerative  figures.  It  gives  the  manufacturer  who  promptly  seizes 
the  opportunity,  time  to  educate  his  labor,  to  establish  his  reputation, 
to  introduce  his  goods,  to  know  his  customers,  to  get  his  labor  at  a  rate 
free  from  competition  of  a  home  manufacturer.  And  he  is  ahead  in  hav¬ 
ing  secured  a  free  site  for  his  cotton  mill. 

The  climate  has  that  degree  of  moisture  in  it  so  necessary,  and  which 
is  now  more  or  less  artificially  supplied  at  the  East  in  the  manufacto¬ 
ries. 

If  water  power  is  desired,  the  beautiful  clear  stream,,  fed  from  peren¬ 
nial  springs,  the  Eapides,  is  on  the  verge  of  the  town,  and  can  be  made 
to  furnish  abundant  power. 

If  steam  be  preferred,  coal  can  be  had  at  very  low  rates,  probably  $2.50 
per  ton ;  and  these  prices  will  go  still  lower.  Within  the  last  two  or 
three  months  the  Alabama  coals  have  threatened  to  drive  those  of  Pitts¬ 
burgh  from  the  market  of  New  Orleans.  In  addition  to  this,  the  coal  busi¬ 
ness  down  the  Tennessee  river  is  on  the  verge  of  being  putin  operation, 
and  will  still  further  cheapen  coal.  Alexandria  has  another  feature  of 
transportation  to  cheapen  coal,  in  a  line  which  opens  up  the  superb 
smokeless  coal  of  Arkansas.  This  road  is  under  the  control  of  the  Mis¬ 
souri  Pacific  Company. 


—  44  — 


LOUISIANA. 


NORTHERN  LOUISIANA. 


1  I  /iTH  the  fact  as  guide  to  the  subject  of  Ouachita  river  being  a 
II J  dividing  line  between  the  greater  lowland  and  the  greater 

upland  regions  of  North  Louisiana,  if  a  map  of  the  State  is 
consulted  it  will  be  seen  that  the  territory  lying  between  the  Ouachita 
and  Red  rivers,  which  is  the  upland  region,  is  greater  in  extent  than 
that  lying  between  the  Ouachita  and  the  Mississippi. 

The  last,  which  is  the  greater  lowland  region  of  the  two,  faces  the 
highlands  from  the  point  where  the  Ouachita  enters  this  State  until  it 
enters  upon  the  flood  plain  of  Red  river,  and  is  a  most  remarkable 
country  in  whatever  light  wTe  choose  to  regard  it.  The  soil  is  of 
alluvial,  and,  therefore,  recent  origin,  with  not  a  single  element  lacking 
which  could  add  to  its  value  as  the  richest  and  strongest  agricultural 
land  on  the  North  American  Continent.  Its  forest  growth  is  the 
densest  and  largest  in  the  world  within  the  temperate  zone.  And 
withal,  that  much  of  it  is  never  inundated,  and  its  boundaries  are  as  dis¬ 
tinctly  defined  as  those  of  the  island  of  Great  Britain.  It  is  a  product 
wholly  of  the  Mississippi  river,  supplemented  in  this  case  by  action  of 
the  Arkansas  and  Ouachita,  even  as  in  the  alluvial  district  of  Louisiana 
south  of  Red  river  the  Mississippi  was  supplemented  in  its  action  by 
Red  river  and  the  Ouachita. 

But,  at  the  same  time,  we  are  tempted  to  wonder  again  and  again  at 
the  wonderful  region  which  the  Mississippi  has  evidently  raised  from 
an  arm  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  made  it  fit  for  man’s  habitation  and 
use.  It  will  be  found  that  the  highland  region  of  North  Louisiana  is  no 
less  wonderful  in  origin.  It  is,  in  reality,  the  southern  half  of  a 
peninsula  which  in  time  had  stretched  from  the  Ozark  Mountains  of 
Arkansas  to  the  rim  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  even  as  to-day  it  continues 
over  as  a  peninsula  system  hedged  between  the  valleys  of  Red  river 
and  the  Ouachita.  That  is,  it  is  seen  to  be  a  survival  of  foothills  once 
connected  with  the  Ozark  Mountains,  the  height  of  which,  though  in 
general  diminished  below  the  dignity  of  such  association,  is  yet 
strikingly  preserved  where  the  formation  verges  upon  the  flood  plain  of 
the  central  Red  river  valley  and  the  lower  Ouachita. 

-45  — 


LOUISIANA. 


Excepting  modifications  due  to  local  causes,  not  only  is  there  an 
apparent  relation  between  the  topography  of  the  North  Louisiana  high¬ 
lands  and  the  Ozarks,  where,  figuratively  speaking,  the  elements  con¬ 
tinue  to  grind  fertilizing  grist  for  the  valley  lands  of  Red  river  and  the 
Ouachita,  but  the  connection  is  further  established  in  analysis  of  soil, 
in  the  universal  forest  covering  of  the  two,  and  in  a  system  of  moraines 
marking  the  region,  the  source  of  which  can  be  traced  directly  to  the 
Ozark  Mountains.  Hence,  though  a  classification  which  had  been  left 
out  of  former  accounts  through  neglect  to  compare  the  geology  of 
Louisiana  and  Arkansas,  it  is  in  fact  a  Piedmont  country  which  will 
average  in  general  with  territory  in  kind  found  in  Virginia,  Georgia, 
Alabama  and  the  Carolinas ;  and  upon  the  whole  will  be  found  capable 
of  like  crop  production  to  its  prototype  of  the  older  Southern  States. 

It  is  not  wholly  a  highland  region — that  is,  if  we  take  the  channels  of 
water  courses  as  boundaries  of  the  whole.  But  with  all  that,  along  the 
western  and  southern  edges  of  the  system,  Red  river  is  seen  to  have 
levied  tribute,  leaving  instead  a  broad  strip  of  alluvial  territory  of  its 
own  making ;  along  the  eastern  edge  it  is  seen  to  have  resisted  the 
combined  action  of  the  Ouachita  and  the  Mississippi,  until  on  the  par¬ 
allel  of,  say  Natchez,  the  Mississippi  valley  remains  contracted  to  a 
width  of  only  twenty-two  miles. 

Save  and  excepting  the  interior  of  the  highlands,  there  is  an  almost 
equal  combination  of  hill  lands  and  bottoms  distinguishing  the  North 
Louisiana  parishes  from  other  parts  of  the  State.  This  rule  seems  to 
have  been  so  general  when  the  boundaries  of  each  were  established, 
that  when  lacking  a  due  proportion  of  either  highlands  or  bottoms,  the 
political  and,  therefore,  the  geographical  jurisdiction  of  both  the  Red 
river  and  Ouachita  parishes  were,  with  few  exceptions,  carried  beyond 
these  streams. 

Hence  in  the  case  of  Caldwell  parish  we  have  an  almost  equal  extent 
of  river  lowlands  and  highland  territory — the  first  lying  east  of  the 
Ouachita  and  the  highlands  which  abut  the  river  on  the  west.  The 
result  is  that  in  soil  characteristics,  in  a  great  amount  of  hardwood  for¬ 
est  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  still  greater  amount  of  long-leaf  pine  on  the 
other,  we  have  a  diversity  of  conditions,,  whether  the  settler’s  bent  is 
towards  cotton  production,  grain,  live  stock  or  fruit;  whether  the  choice 
is  that  of  a  highland  or  lowland  country,  or  whether  the  preference  is 


—  46 


LOUISIANA. 


for  agriculture,  horticulture,  stock-raising,  or  for  manufactures  adapted 
to  the  natural  resources  of  the  country.  And,  indeed,  adding  to  this 
the  fact  of  both  its  table  lands  and  its  lowlands  being  the  cheapest 
found  to-day  in  the  West  with  the  H.,  C.  A.  &  N.  R.  R.  henceforth  run¬ 
ning  daily  through  its  territory— the  day  cannot  he  far  distant  when  it 
shall  be  one  of  the  best  known  and  most  popular  parishes  of  the  State 
situated  north  of  Red  river. 

While  upon  the  subject  of  the  parish  at  large,  it  is,  perhaps,  not  amiss 
to  stress  in  detail  the  fact  of  a  low  price  of  lands  holding  in  this 
instance  as  in  other  parishes  before  noticed  in  this  State.  And  in  the 
light  of  the  excellent  class  of  lands  had  in  both  the  highlands  and  the 
bottoms,  the  facts  of  the  case  point  to  good  investments  for  those  who, 
knowing  something  of  this  part  of  Louisiana,  desire  to  purchase  farm 
or  timber  lands,  now  that  there  is  afforded  outlet  both  by  rail  and  river. 

It  were  in  this  connection,  perhaps,  also  worth  while  to  explain  a 
mistaken  impression  one  encounters  even  among  the  best  of  these 
people,  of  foreign  land  and  railroad  syndicates  owning  a  greater  part  of 
the  forest  region  of  the  parish.  An  investigation  of  the  tax  books 
proves  that  out  of  a  total  area  of  345,600  acres,  only  75,856  are  so  held, 
of  which  43,661  acres  are  yet  to  be  earned  by  the  Missouri,  Arkansas  & 
Louisiana  railroad,  and  the  remaining  32,155  acres  controlled  by  Jas.  B. 
Ellis,  of  England,  trustee. 

The  average  assessed  value  of  land  taxed  in  the  parish  is  a  fraction 
less  than  $2  per  acre,  which  fact  in  itself,  while  it  goes  to  prove  a  healthy 
financial  condition  of  the  parish,  emphasizes  the  absence  of  the  land 
speculator,  and,  therefore,  a  low  price  per  acre.  This  is  borne  out  further 
in  the  price  of  forest  lands  of  the  highlands,  which  in  general  sell  at 
$1.25  per  acre,  and  also  in  the  price  of  bottom  lands  which  further  on  are 
shown  to  be  held  at  a  remarkably  low  sum  per  acre.  And  in  the  case 
of  sixteenth  section  and  school  indemnity  lands,  owned  by  the  State 
and  parish,  the  first  can  be  had  at  $1.50,  and  the  last  at  $2.50  per  acre. 

So  it  is  respecting  bottom  lands  or  river  plantations  in  cultivation. 
For  instance:  “Bellevue  Plantation, ”  a  well-known  estate  of  this 
parish,  2,000  acres  in  extent,  with  300  acres  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation, 
and  150  acres  in  pasture — which  the  owner,  C.  C.  Bridges,  offers  at 
$15,000.  It  is  suited  to  stock-raising,  and  to  the  growth  of  Southern  staple 
crops ;  it  is  distant  from  Columbia  two  miles ;  it  has  a  river  front ;  the 

—  47  — 


SAW  MILL  SCENE,  NORTHERN  LOUISIANA. 


LOUISIANA. 


titles  are  good ;  fences,  tenant  house,  barns  and  gin  are  in  good  condi¬ 
tion  ;  while  to  round  out  the  bargain,  there  is  a  residence  on  the  place, 
the  cost  of  which  was  $4,000.  And  in  another  case,  applying  to  the 
hill  territory  of  the  parish,  R.  R.  Redditt,  also  of  Columbia,  offers  a  tract 
of  1,100  acres  at  $3.50  per  acre,  with  60  acres  open  land.  It  is  situated 
twenty-two  miles  south  of  Columbia,  eight  miles  from  the  Ouachita,  and 
twelve  miles  from  the  railroad,  and  is  described  by  those  who  know  it 
as  one  of  the  best  interior  mill  sites  in  the  country. 

The  aggregate  area  of  the  parish  is  345,600  acres,  divided  into  184,320 
acres  bottom  and  160,280  acres  highlands. 

Number  of  acres  land  taxed  or  owned  by  private  parties  is  284,600, 
and  the  remainder,  consisting  of  84,440  acres  of  sixteenth  section 
and  school  indemnity  lands,  and  32,240  acres  United  States  public 
land  subject  to  homestead.  Of  the  whole,  it  is  assumed  by  the  assessor 
that  60,000  acres  are  open  land.  This  is  a  discrepancy,  for  at  the  same 
time  it  is  stated  that  only  15,204  are  actually  in  cultivation,  and  at  a 
glance  this  is  contradicted  by  the  annual  crop  production  of  the 
parish,  and  by  the  fact  that  with  a  general  prediction  for  the  production 
of  cotton  it  were  impossible  that  there  should  be  three-fourths  of  the 
open  territory,  or  44,796  acres  in  pasture. 

The  same  thing  applies  when  the  crop  production  is  summed  up  on 
the  Assessor’s  books.  It  is  known  beyond  peradventure  that  the 
annual  crop  of  cotton  is  rarely  less  than  10,000  bales — 7,804  bales  being 
alone  accounted  for  in  the  course  of  the  local  trade.  And  to  say  that 
this  latter  amount  was  raised  on  the  number  of  acres  given  below  is  to 
assert  a  variance  from  fact,  the  cotton  production  of  the  hill  country 
being  included  in  the  estimate. 

As  given  for  what  it  is  worth,  only  as  a  means  of  getting  at  more 
light  on  the  subject,  the  following  is  the  crop  report  of  1891 :  Number  of 
acres  in  cotton,  9,656,  the  production  of  which  in  bales  was  6,916. 
Number  of  acres  in  corn,  5,046,  which  produced  59,710  bushels  of  corn. 
Number  of  acres  in  potatoes,  397,  and  sugar  cane,  105  acres,  the 
production  of  which  was  22,775  bushels,  and  304  barrels  of  molasses, 
respectively.  With  nothing  given  on  the  books  of  pastures,  meadows 
and  orchards  from  which  to  reason. 

Value  of  live  stock  assessed  in  the  parish  $120,850  divided  as 
follows :  Number  of  horses  and  mules  1,522,  value  $80,530,  or  an  average 

—  49  — 


LOUISIANA. 


of  $52.65  per  head.  Number  of  cattle  5,713,  value  $28,565,  or  $5  per 
head.  Number  of  sheep  1,775,  value  $1,775;  and  number  of  hogs  4,980, 
value  $4,980. 

Value  of  land  taxed  $451,745,  or  a  fraction  less  than  $2  per  acre,  the 
area  assessed  being  284,440  acres.  Assessed  value  of  personal  property 
$230,295 ;  or  a  total  assessment  of  $382,040,  exclusive  of  a  total  assess¬ 
ment  of  the  colored  population  amounting  to  $50,365,  which  would 
make  the  grand  total  $732,405. 

Number  of  polls  in  1891 :  Whites  586,  and  colored  579,  or  a  total  of 
1,165.  Total  population,  approximately,  8,000.  School  population: 
Whites  1,188,  of  whom  595  were  males  and  593  females.  Colored 
1,203,  of  whom  620  were  males  and  583  females.  Total  tax  collected 
assessed  in  1891,  $10,253.65,  exclusive  of  poll-tax,  which,  in  this  State, 
is  diverted  to  the  use  of  the  parish  public  school  fund.  The  rate  of 
taxation  for  the  year  was  as  follows:  State  tax,  6  mills;  parish  tax,  8 
mills;  and  district  lease  tax,  5  mills;  or  say  in  all  19  mills.  And, 
indeed,  to  all  of  which  should  be  added  the  fact  of  the  parish  being  not 
only  wholly  out  of  debt,  but  that  there  is  a  surplus  in  the  parish 
treasury  at  this  time  of  $4,252.13,  of  which  $2,084.79  belongs  to  the 
parish  public  school  fund,  and  the  remainder,  $2,168.34,  to  the  general 
fund  of  the  parish. 

Of  Columbia:  Though  always  limited  in  number  of  inhabitants  to 
400  or  500,  the  history  of  this  place  is  that  of  having  led  in  large  enter¬ 
prises,  and  its  citizens  always  of  a  class  who  brooked  nothing  that 
would  obstruct  their  public  spirit  and  enterprise,  once  the  exigences  of 
the  case  called  for  the  investment  of  their  time  and  money.  And  as  a 
consequence,  though  hidden  away  under  the  bluff  banks  of  the  Ouachita 
highlands  at  a  point  where  there  would  be  scant  room  for  a  town  of 
2,500  inhabitants  without  mounting  the  hills,  it  will  be  found,  in  the 
markets  of  the  lower  Mississippi  valley,  that  there  is  not  a  minor  point 
in  Louisiana,  Mississippi  and  Arkansas  which  is  better  known  and 
appreciated  than  Columbia,  La. 

In  fact,  the  writer  speaks  from  a  personal  knowledge  of  the  place 
dating  back  nineteen  years,  when  it  is  stated  that  it  was  the  originating 
point  of  both  the  Ouachita  River  Transportation  Company  and  the 
Houston,  Central  Arkansas  &  Northern  Railroad — enterprises  which, 
more  than  all  other  possible  combination  of  means,  are  tending  to  a 

—  50  — 


LOUISIANA. 


higher  development  of  the  central  region  of  North  Louisiana  than  yet 
witnessed  in  the  farm  and  forest  territory  of  the  Southwest.  Or,  in 
other  words,  taking  the  brave  energies  of  the  place  and  the  pace  it  ha** 
set  for  the  Ouachita  valley  country,  it  will  be  found  that  its  right  to 
attention  depends  upon  more  than  is  seen  upon  the  calm  surface  of  its 
affairs.  For  withal  that  there  is  much  to  do  toward  the  general  reclama¬ 
tion  of  the  country  to  agriculture,  such  is  the  bent  of  its  public  spirit 
and  enterprise  as  to  put  out  of  sight  for  a  time  other  thought  than  that 
of  a  system  of  small  factories  so-called,  conditioned  to  material  required 
in  the  manufacture  of  wood  pulp,  cotton  and  woolen  fabrics,  wagons, 
carriages  and  furniture. 

Timber  resources :  The  forest  area  of  the  parish  being  248,600  acres, 
if  this  sum  is  multiplied  by  6,000  feet,  which  is  the  extreme  minimum 
of  stumpage  measurement  per  acre  in  this  State,  it  will  be  found  that 
the  total  timber  resources  aggregate  1,707,600,000  feet  board  measure ; 
and  of  which  it  is  accepted  that  968,600,000  feet  consists  of  white  oak, 
hickory,  ash,  gum  and  poplar,  and  739,000,000  long-leaf  pine.  Conse¬ 
quently,  the  central  position  of  Columbia  and  its  rail  and  river  connection 
being  taken  into  account,  we  have  in  the  sum  of  the  whole  and  in  the 
kind  of  forest  the  variety  and  extent  of  its  timber  resources  or  at  least 
the  amount  which  is  locally  within  reach. 

But,  according  to  the  process  suggested  in  the  outset  for  getting  at  the 
facts  of  the  case,  if  a  map  is  consulted  it  will  be  found  that  the  highland, 
or  pine,  region  of  the  parish,  over  which  it  has  business  and  official 
control,  is  only  a  fraction  of  the  wide  territory  bounded  by  Red  river, 
the  Ouachita  and  the  Arkansas  State  line.  The  same  thing  applies  in 
case  of  the  bottom  territory  of  the  parish.  It  is  but  a  fraction  of  the 
lowland  country,  or  hardwood  region,  bounded  by  the  Mississippi, 
Ouachita,  Red  river  and  the  Arkansas  State  line.  And  as  a  consequence, 
notwithstanding  the  timber  supply  were  in  reason  sufficient,  if  there  is 
added  other  territory  by  means  of  probable  connections  to  strike  here 
en  route  from  Shreveport  and  Texarkana  to  Natchez,  Miss.,  at  a  glance 
it  is  to  be  seen  that  the  timber  supply  is  practically  unlimited. 

The  above  is  without  timber  resources  in  sight  along  the  upper 
Ouachita  in  this  State  and  Arkansas  as  high  as  Camden,  which  would 
insure  a  cheaper  transportation  to  mill,  and  a  better  selection 
according  to  the  demands  of  manufacturers  than  any  and  all  established 

—  51  — 


LOUISIANA. 


points  it  is  possible  to  name  in  this  State  without  the  valley  of  the 
Ouachita.  And  forsooth  from  all  of  which  it  is  seen  that  the  interest 
which  attaches  for  manufacturers  on  the  side  of  its  timber  resources  is 
not  without  justification,  especially  since  it  now  has  the  advantage  of  a 
competing  rail  and  river  outlet,  not  to  mention  again  the  predisposition 
of  its  citizens  and  the  friends  of  the  place  to  give  substantial  encour¬ 
agement  to  manufacturing  industries. 

As  under  the  head  of  timber  supply,  the  same  reasoning  would  apply 
to  textile  material  for  small  factories.  For  while,  in  both  foreign  and 
American  markets  Louisiana  cotton  holds  by  comparison  its  own — the 
fact  argues  nothing  of  an  excellence  it  were  possible  to  prove  did  a 
demand  spring  up  for  a  cleaner  and  more  carefully  handled  grade  of 
cotton  at  a  price  equal  to  the  labor  required  or  say  at  a  price  possible 
without  the  cost  of  freight,  commissions,  etc.  While  as  to  the  wool 
clip  of  the  highlands,  inconsiderable  as  it  is,  according  to  the  extent  of 
hill  territory r  it  is  a  fact  that  the  wool  of  Western  and  Northern 
Louisiana,  class  for  class,  outgrades  that  of  Texas.  At  the  same  time 
it  is  known  to  have  made  the  fortunes  of  those  through  whose  hands  it 
has  passed  in  quantities  to  Eastern  mills. 

Or,  in  substance,  taken  together,  the  chances,  as  in  case  of  the  timber 
supply,  would  be  in  favor  of  securing  for  manufacturing  uses  a  supply 
of  material  well  worth  looking  into,  either  as  a  speculation  or  an  invest¬ 
ment.  And  as  respects  wood  for  the  manufacture  of  paper  pulp,  the 
resource  at  the  minimum  cost  for  transportation  is  the  Ouachita  valley 
for  200  miles  north  of  here.  That  is,  if  along  with  other  suitable  woods 
tupelo  gum  is  sought,  than  which  there  cannot  be  found  the  world  over 
a  wood  that  would  make  better  paper  pulp,  or  at  as  low  cost  per  ton. 
Nor  can  there  be  found  in  the  State  a  better  supply  of  clear  water  and 
as  free  from  impurities  as  that  of  the  Ouachita — an  analysis,  in  fact, 
having  proved  that,  along  with  White  river  in  Arkansas,  it  is  one  of  the 
two  navigable  streams  west  of  the  Mississippi  whose  waters  are  abso¬ 
lutely  approved  by  the  manufacturers  of  cotton  and  paper. 

The  site  of  the  town  is  a  recess,  or  cove,  along  the  bluff  or  western 
front  of  the  Ouachita,  formed  through  the  combined  action  of  the  river 
and  the  weathering  hills.  The  brow  of  the  hill  is  a  half  mile  from  the 
river  front,  and  has  a  height  above  the  town  of  something  over  125  feet, 
along  which,  at  65  feet  less  elevation,  the  Houston,  Central  Arkansas  & 

—  52  — 


LOUISIANA. 


Northern  Railroad  threads  its  way,  after  having  crossed  the  Ouachita  five 
miles  above.  Hence,  at  first  glance,  should  the  site  seem  open  to  the 
objection  of  being  limited  in  area,  or  that  the  height  above  the  river  is 
not  great  enough,  there  is  immediately  at  hand  an  unlimited  territory 
with  advantages  of  elevation  in  its  favor  as  a  seat  for  residence,  the 
like  of  which  cannot  be  found  at  any  other  point  along  the  Ouachita 
and  Red  rivers,  excepting  Shreveport. 

The  exports,  or  products,  sent  forward  to  market  from  Columbia  are, 
in  general,  cotton,  cotton  seed,  wool,  beeswax,  furs,  pelts,  hides,  cattle, 
sheep,  hogs,  staves,  egret  and  heron  plumes. 


CENTRAL-NORTH  LOUISIANA. 


SHE  Houston,  Central  Arkansas  &  Northern  Railroad  enters 
Louisiana  near  the  northeastern  corner  of  Morehouse  parish, 
twenty-five  miles  west  of  the  Mississippi  river,  and  just  east  of 
bayou  Bartholomew,  and  runs  in  a  southwesterly  direction  across  the 
entire  parish,  passing  through  its  rich  and  prosperous  prairie  farms, 
and  skirting  its  alluvial  lands  between  and  on  bayou  Bartholomew  and 
Boeuf  river,  which  is  one  grand  and  unbroken  cultivated  section  for 
thirty  miles,  where  it  crosses  the  Boeuf  into  Ouachita  parish.  After 
entering  Ouachita  for  six  or  eight  miles  it  skirts  the  uncultivated 
hills  and  plat  lands,  and  then  enters  the  Ouachita  river  section  to 
Monroe,  where  it  crosses  the  V.,  S.  &  P.  Railroad. 

From  Monroe  it  takes  a  due  south  course  along  the  Ouachita  river, 
through  twenty-five  miles  of  the  finest  planting  interest  in  the  State. 
The  river  ranges  one  or  more  miles  west,  with  a  high  bank,  and  never 
overflows,  while  the  railroad  bed  acts  as  a  back  levee,  giving  absolute 
protection  against  overflow.  Fifteen  miles  south  of  Monroe  it  enters 
Caldwell  parish,  which  extends  ten  miles  above  the  Ouachita  river,  and 
which  is  also  a  rich  agricultural  mine  and  is  in  a  high  state  of  cultiva¬ 
tion,  to  where  the  railroad  crosses  the  stream. 

After  crossing  the  Ouachita  river  it  enters  the  hill  country  of  Caldwell 
parish  and  for  fifteen  miles  runs  in  a  southwesterly  direction  to  where 
it  crosses  into  Catahoula  parish  near  the  corners  of  Caldwell,  Catahoula 
and  Winn  parishes,  and  for  twelve  miles  in  Catahoula  it  runs  in  a 
southwesterly  direction  to  the  corners  of  Catahoula,  Winn  and  Grant, 

--53  — 


FOREST  SCENE,  LOUISIANA. 


LOUISIANA. 


whiere  it  enters  the  latter  parish  just  below  the  mouth  of  bayou  Castor 
and  Dugdemonce  creek,  which  forms  Little  river.  It  passes  through 
the  east  side  of  Grant  parish  in  nearly  a  south  course  for  about  thirty 
miles,  where  it  enters  Rapides  parish  and  runs  directly  south  ten  miles, 
crossing  the  Red  river  just  above  Alexandria,  where  it  connects  with 
Gould's  system,  the  Texas  &  Pacific  Railroad  for  New  Orleans,  and  also 
the  Morgan  and  the  Watkins  roads. 


COTTON  AND  LUMBER. 


IT  is  not  possible  for  any  road  to  have  a  better  field  for  freight  carry¬ 
ing  supplies,  as  the  parishes  through  which  it  runs  produce  a  joint 
cotton  crop  of  60,000  bales,  while  the  lumber  interest  in  these 
several  parishes  is  immense,  having  pine  lands  equal  to  1,500,000  acres, 
besides  cypress  and  oak  lands  for  other  lumber  shipments,  and  there 
are  now  fifteen  to  twenty  mills  on  and  adjacent  to  its  line,  and  shipping 
large  amounts  of  lumber  daily. 

The  amount  of  lumber  cannot  be  given,  but,  as  much  of  the  pine 
section  is  a  virgin  forest,  the  amount  of  actual  supply  can  be  approxi¬ 
mated  from  the  acres  in  the  long  leaf  pine  lands  in  the  parishes : 


Ouachita.. 

Caldwell.. 

Catahoula 

Grant  . 

Rapides  .. 


Acres. 

121,600 

108,800 

294,400 

308,480 

576,000 


1,409,280 


Less  the  amount  that  has  been  opened,  which  is  comparatively  small. 
Cotton  produced  in  1890 : 


Morehouse 

Ouachita... 

Caldwell... 

Catahoula.. 

Grant . 

Rapides . 


Bales. 

18,982 

12,326 

6,910 

3,200 

1,725 

17,642 


—  55  — 


60,791 


LOUISIANA. 


As  an  exemplification  of  the  growth  of  the  section  a  ten-years’  com¬ 
parison  in  wealth  and  population  is  given  below  : 


Population.  Wealth. 

1880.  1890.  1880.  1890. 

Morehouse .  14,206  16,786  11,886,255  $2,170,885 

Ouachita .  14,685  17,985  2.624,859  3,095,136 

Caldwell .  5,767  5,814  614,870*  732,405 

Catahoula .  10,277  12,002  1,254,685  1,636,160 

Grant .  6,188  8,270  381,840  1,105,830 

Rapides .  23,563  27,642  2,139,990  3,872,655 

Total .  74,686  88,499  $8,902,499  $12,613,071 


Increase  in  population  in  ten  years,  18%  per  cent 
Increase  in  wealth  in  ten  years,  41%  per  cent. 

Per  capita  wealth  in  1880,  $116.52. 

Per  capita  wealth  in  1890,  $142.52. 

Total 


Morehouse . 

Total  Lands. 

.  538,880 

Cultivated 

Lands. 

69,230 

Per  Cent 

13 

Ouachita . . 

.  409,600 

45,738 

11 

Caldwell . 

.  342,400 

15,204 

•4% 

Catahoula . 

.  881,920 

20,000 

2% 

Grant . 

.  410,880 

16,328 

4 

Rapides . 

.  956,160 

72,130 

7 % 

3,539,840 

248,630 

Only  7  per  cent  of  total  lands  in  cultivation. 

The  decided  increase  in  wealth  should  make  it  a  very  inviting  field 
for  homeseekers,  and  the  cultivated  lands  representing  only  seven  per 
cent  of  its  total  area  should  indicate  that  it  is  not  overcrowded.  There 
are,  of  course,  homeseekers  who  wish  to  know  the  cost  of  lands,  and 
for  the  benefit  of  such  the  assessed  value  of  the  open  and  timber  lands 
is  given  by  parishes. 

Average  value  of  lands  as  assessed  by  the  State  in  1891 : 


Open  Lands. 

Timber. 

Morehouse  . 

. .  $10  00 

$1 

50 

Ouachita . 

.  15  00 

50 

Caldwell  . 

.  6  00 

1 

25 

Catahoula . 

.  5  00 

1 

25 

Grant . 

.  6  75 

2 

23 

Rapides . 

.  13  86 

1 

60 

—  56  — 


LOUISIANA. 


THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 

SHE  next  question  to  the  homeseeker  is  the  condition  of  the 
public  schools.  In  three  of  the  parishes,  Morehouse,  Ouachita 
and  Rapides,  the  public  schools  are  in  a  fairly  good  condition, 
for  Rapides  has  a  white  teacher  nine  months  for  every  73%  white 
children  in  her  borders,  while  Ouachita  has  a  white  teacher  four 
months  for  every  57%  of  her  white  children,  and  Morehouse  has  a 
white  teacher  for  over  five  months  for  every  56%  white  children  in 
her  limits,  and  extra  good  school  houses  throughout  the  parish. 

The  enrollment  of  white  children  in  these  parishes  represents  in 
percentage  of  school  age  as  follows :  Rapides,  50 ;  Morehouse,  50,  and 
Ouachita,  55.  If  Rapides  would  employ  a  dozen  more  teachers,  and 
Morehouse  and  Ouachita  lengthen  their  terms  two  months,  they  would 
enjoy  a  standard  school  system  nearly  equal  to  any  in  America.  This 
good  showing  is  the  result  of  a  thorough  agitation  and  appreciation  by 
the  people,  and  a  consequent  local  tax  by  the  police  jury.  The  other 
three  parishes  are  not  in  a  bad  school  condition,  but  have  shorter 
terms,  and  need  a  more  thorough  support  in  financial  respects.  In 
Grant  there  is  a  white  teacher  four  months  for  every  62  white  children, 
while  in  Catahoula  there  is  a  white  teacher  three  months  for  every  55% 
white  children  of  scholastic  age. 

A  small  addition  in  everything  would  make  these  parishes  enjoy  a 
standard  school  system  for  their  white  children.  Parish  finances  con¬ 
stitute  an  element  of  interest  to  homeseekers,  and  for  such  a  careful 
compilation  is  given  below.  In  1880  the  parish  taxes  were  uniformly 
10  mills  and  yielded  nothing  to  support  the  schools  and  left  debts  hang¬ 
ing  over  the  parishes  as  follows : 

Morehouse .  $  6,765 

Ouachita .  9,000 

Caldwell  .  1,908 

Catahoula .  5,068 

Grant .  2,413 

Rapides . 19,630 


Total .  $44,784 

Since  which  time  this  debt  has  been  paid  entirely  and  each  parish  has 
money  on  hand,  and  in  the  parish  of  Morehouse  it  amounts  to  $11,000 
after  levying  only  8  mills,  and  2  of  that  for  schools,  and  an  addition  of 
$1,500  donated  to  the  school  board.  This  year  the  tax  rate  in  More- 

—  57  — 


LOUISIANA. 


house  is  down  to  6  mills,  of  which  2  mills  are  for  school  purposes,  while 
four  years  since  it  was  10  mills,  and  much  credit  is  due  the  police  jury 
for  this  good  financial  showing. 

In  Ouachita  there  are  a  few  thousand  dollars  surplus  in  the  parish 
treasury,  and,  while  four  years  since  it  required  10  mills  to  operate  the 
parish,  it  will  be  necessary  to  collect  only  6  mills  this  year.  This  parish 
does  not  do  as  well  for  its  public  schools  as  Morehouse  and  Rapides,  as 
the  former  gives  2  mills  direct  and  donates  from  its  general  surplus 
additional  aid,  while  Rapides  gives  3%  mills  to  her  schools,  and  yet 
Ouachita,  in  her  splendid  financial  condition,  only  gave  %  of  1  mill  for 
school  purposes.  In  Caldwell  the  surplus  amounts  to  $2,400  out  of  a 
tax  rate  of  7  mills  for  general  purposes  and  1  mill  for  school  purposes. 
Caldwell's  tax  rate  in  1888  was  10  mills  and  her  paper  was  worth  about 
90  cents  on  the  dollar. 


SMALL  TOWNS. 


SHE  towns  along  this  new  highway  of  commerce  are  mostly  new 
and  small,  but  with  a  brilliant  prospect  for  rapid  and  permanent 
prosperity.  The  first  of  these  is  Jones  in  Morehouse  parish,  which 
is  three  miles  from  the  Arkansas  State  line.  There  is  a  good  church 
building  and  a  newly-built  public  school  house. 

Bonita,  the  next  town  has  several  general  stores  and  a  good  school. 
Below  Bonita  is  the  thriving  little  town  of  Gabon. 

Nearby  this  point  and  connected  by  a  railroad  spur  track  is  the  exten¬ 
sive  saw  mill  of  the  Morehouse  Lumber  Company,  which  employs  about 
100  men.  This  mill  has  recently  been  erected  by  Northwestern  capital¬ 
ists,  who  brought  with  them  many  Western  families,  which  constitute  a 
great  addition  in  the  way  of  making  an  important  little  town. 

The  mill  cuts  cypress  lumber,  which  is  shipped  in  large  quantities  to 
the  Northwest.  Mer  Rouge,  situated  in  the  heart  of  the  rich  prairie  of 
that  name,  is  the  next  town  and,  in  fact,  the  most  important  in  the 
parish  on  this  railroad. 

There  is  a  nice  Episcopal  church  and  a  splendid  new  three-room 
public  school  building  recently  erected  by  the  people  there  at  an  expense 
of  $1,500.  The  school  board  furnished  it  with  new  patent  desks  and 
supplied  it  with  two  teachers,  who  have  had  a  joint  enrollment  this  past 
session  of  fifty-four  pupils.  There  is  also  a  music  department  in  connec- 


—  58 


LOUISIANA. 


tion  with  it.  There  is  a  strong  Lodge  of  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  also  a 
good  weekly  paper,  the  Mer  Rouge  Vidette. 

This  town  is  nearly  centrally  located  between  Bastrop  and  Oak 
Ridge,  whose  merchants  receive  their  goods  from  this  point.  There 
were  12,000  bales  of  cotton  shipped  this  past  season  from  this  depot, 
most  of  which  went  to  New  Orleans.  At  Collins,  the  railroad  from 
Eayville  to  Bascom  crosses  the  H.,  C.  A.  &  N.  road.  There  are  several 
mercantile  houses  here,  and  a  good  school.  Doss  is  the  last  station  in 
Morehouse  parish.  Entering  Ouachita,  the  first  station  is  S warts. 
Monroe  is  the  next  place.  It  is  beautifully  located  on  a  large  section 
of  almost  level  land,  with  its  broad  streets  and  tall,  green,  live  oaks 
overlapping  its  every  street  and  sidewalk,  its  handsome  houses  and 
fine  flower  yards,  its  many  handsome  brick  business  houses,  opera 
house,  hotels,  churches,  fine  court  house  and  yard,  and  its  new  United 
States  Government  and  court  building  and  post  office,  its  many  success¬ 
ful  manufacturing  plants,  including  two  oil  mills,  ice  works,  compress, 
bottling  works,  sash,  door  and  blind  factory,  foundry,  railroad  machine 
shop,  three  very  strong  banks,  two  newspapers,  two  livery  stables, 
and  one  of  the  finest  city  public  school  systems  in  the  State ;  with  its 
400  white  children  enrolled  and  150  colored  children  enrolled,  with  two 
wholesale  grocery  houses,  two  wholesale  drug  houses,  one  wholesale 
dry  goods  house,  one  wholesale  whisky  house  and  its  40,000  bales  of 
cotton  annually,  it  certainly  is  entitled  to  be  classed  as  a  first-class 
modern,  progressive  young  Southern  city. 

The  town  enjoys  the  luxury  of  a  telephone  service,  but  needs  electric 
lights,  street  car  lines  and  water  works,  but  the  latter  are  soon  to  be 
erected  by  New  Orleans  capitalists.  No  feature  of  Monroe  stimulates 
a  greater  city  pride  than  her  public  schools,  which  are  well  graded 
from  the  lower  class  to  the  high  school  department,  with  music,  elocu¬ 
tion,  physical  culture,  etc.,  as  an  annex  to  the  regular  daily  course. 

Of  Columbia,  mention  has  already  been  made.  Below  Columbia, 
all  the  improvements  are  entirely  new  and  consist  mostly  of  saw  mills. 
The  first  of  these  is  the  Bridger  spur  where  a  pine  saw  mill  is  operated. 
Then  comes  Grayson  station  with  one  store  and  post  office.  Olla, 
which  is  forty-seven  miles  north  of  Alexandria,  is  the  dinner  station. 
Tullos,  five  miles  South  of  Olla,  comes  next.  Bear  Spur,  Little  River 
and  Pollock  come  next  in  order,  then  Nugent,  Levins  and  Alexandria. 

—  59- 


LOUISIANA. 


CENTRAL  LOUISIANA. 

f  \  LEXANDRIA  is  the  county  seat  or  capital  of  Rapides  parish,  in 
Jr\  the  State  of  Louisiana.  The  town  is  situated  on  the  Red  river, 
▼  (one  of  the  noblest  streams  of  the  State) ,  and  at  the  head  of  low- 
water  navigation.  By  river  from  New  Orleans  it  is  three  hundred  and 
sixty  miles,  and  by  rail,  one  hundred  and  ninety-six  miles.  Communi¬ 
cation  to  New  Orleans  is  by  two  trunk  lines,  both  of  which  are  trans¬ 
continental  systems :  The  Texas  and  Pacific,  and  the  Southern  Pacific 
Railways.  The  town  is  almost  the  exact  geographical  center  of  the 
State.  If  regard  to  practical  position  be  duly  weighed,  and  a  most 
devious  conformation  in  an  unimportant  area  of  her  territory  be  not 
strictly  considered,  this  centrality,  and  the  railroads  now  built,  building, 
and  others  morally  certain  to  converge  at  the  town  hereafter,  almost 
assure  her  as  the  future  capital  of  the  State.  Her  unrivaled  position 
geographically,  is  most  potentially  emphasized  by  her  position  for  a 
great  commercial  mart  and  manufacturing  center. 

The  town  has  a  population  of  3,500,  and  is  growing  rapidly.  Has  two 
banks,  one  cotton  compress,  one  ice  factory,  two  planing  mills,  one  saw 
mill,  one  daily  and  three  weekly  newspapers,  mineral  water  works,  one 
brick  yard,  a  sash  and  door  factory  and  a  barrel  factory,  four  railroads, 
and  five  others  chartered  and  being  built  to  this  place,  street  car  line, 
four  good  public  schools,  one  convent,  seven  churches,  court  house  and 
U.  S.  Supreme  Court  building,  steam  laundry,  four  lines  of  steamboats, 
three  hotels,  and  other  business  houses  generally  found  in  towns  of  its 
size.  Is  within  seven  miles  of  the  center  of  the  State,  and  surrounded 
by  very  rich  and  productive  sugar,  cotton,  fruit,  stock  and  fine  timber 
lands.  Alexandria  wants  a  central  sugar  factory,  cotton  factory, 
carriage  and  wagon  factory,  foundry  and  machine  shops,  sash  and  blind 
factory,  furniture  factory,  cotton  seed  oil  mill,  canning  factory,  whole¬ 
sale  houses,  etc. 

The  United  States  has  purchased  a  lot,  and  an  appropriation  of  sixty 
thousand  dollars  has  been  made  for  a  court  building  and  post  office. 


—  60  — 


LOUISIANA. 


The  town  has  been  very  liberal  in  encouraging  railroads,  and  stands 
in  the  highest  rank  of  estimation  as  a  desirable  point  for  all  project¬ 
ing  them.  Besides  the  two  great  trunk  lines  already  named  as  here 
(the  Texas  &  Pacific  and  the  Southern  Pacific),  the  Missouri  Pacific  has 
recently  completed  its  line,  which  gives  Alexandria  direct  connection 
with  Little  Rock,  Memphis  and  St.  Louis.  Another  road,  the 
Kansas  City,  Watkins  &  Gulf  Railroad,  is  now  completed 
from  Lake  Charles  to  Alexandria,  a  distance  of  about  ninety 
miles.  These  last  two  railroads  will  open  the  iron  and  smokeless 
coal  of  Arkansas,  destined  to  play  a  great  part  in  the  industrial  future 
of  Alexandria. 

There  is  another  road  projected  to  Alexandria,  called  the  Natchez, 
Red  River  &  Texas.  The  line  is  sixty-five  miles,  through  a  magnifi¬ 
cent  pinery,  and  is  built  from  Yidalia,  opposite  Natchez,  to  Trinity,  La., 
a  distance  of  thirty  miles.  This  is  a  most  important  road,  and  its 
possibilities  will  compel  its  completion.  If,  in  addition  to  the  present 
railroad  from  Jackson,  Miss.,  to  Columbus,  Miss.,  there  shall  be  built 
a  projected  road,  Alexandria,  with  the  short  line  just  mentioned,  will 
be  put  on  a  most  direct  line  between  New  York  and  the  City  of  Mexico. 
Another  railroad,  the  Louisiana,  Arkansas  &  Missouri,  now  being  built 
from  Brinkley,  Ark.,  to  Delhi,  La.,  and  being  surveyed  from  the  latter 
place  to  Alexandria,  has  eighty-one  miles  under  contract  to  Delhi. 
This  road  has  immense  land  grants,  which  assures  its  completion. 

Another  road,  called  the  Louisiana  and  Northwest  Railroad,  is  now 
completed  from  Homer,  in  the  northern  part  of  this  State  (crossing  the 
V.,  S.  &  P.  Railroad  at  Gibsland),  to  Bienville  City,  sixteen  miles 
below  or  south  of  Gibsland,  and  the  contract  is  now  made  to  cut  the 
right  of  way  to  Winnfield,  about  forty  miles  north  of  Alexandria. 

The  tax  on  property  in  Alexandria  is  as  follows :  State  tax,  six  mills ; 
parish,  eight;  corporation,  ten.  This  assessment  is  on  a  half  valuation, 
the  latter  being  low.  The  rapid  enhancement  in  values  insures  a 
diminution  in  rates. 


NEAR  THE  GULP — LOUISIANA 


LOUISIANA. 


SOUTHWESTERN  LOUISIANA. 


Southwestern  Louisiana,  comprising  the  country  which  lies 

south  of  the  thirty-first  parallel,  west  of  the  Atchafalaya  and 
east  of  the  Sabine  river,  has  a  population  of  about  200,000 
souls.  This  district  includes  the  whole  of  the  parishes  of  Calcasieu, 
Cameron,  Iberia,  Lafayette,  St.  Landry,  St.  Martin  and  St.  Mary,  and 
the  southern  portion  of  the  parishes  of  Avoyelles,  Rapides  and  Vernon. 

The  general  conformation  of  the  country  is  level,  except  in  the  north¬ 
westerly  portion,  where  it  is  somewhat  hilly  and  contains  one  of  the 
finest  forests  of  pine  and  the  hard  woods  to  be  found  in  the  United 
States.  Here  abound  all  the  varieties  of  oak,  cypress,  beech,  maple, 
poplar,  gum,  ash,  sycamore,  magnolia,  etc.  South  of  this  and  onward 
to  the  Gulf  the  land  is  prairie,  except  along  its  eastern  limits,  where  it 
is  swamp,  and  though  of  unsurpassed  fertility  and  abounding  with  a 
vast  expanse  of  magnificent  timber,  it  is  subject  to  overflow  from  the 
freshets  of  the  Mississippi  and  Red  rivers.  This  immense  tract  of 
prairie  land  is  above  overflow  and  stands  generally  on  what  is  known 
geologically  as  the  bluff  formation.  It  is  about  forty  feet  above  the 
overflow  waters  of  the  Mississippi  river,  and  offers  the  advantages  of 
good  and  healthful  homes  to  such  as  desire  to  cast  their  lots  in  this 
favored  section  of  the  State.  This  prairie  region  is  not,  like  some  of  the 
great  prairies  of  Texas  and  the  West,  almost  absolutely  devoid  of  fuel 
and  water.  It  is  interspersed  with  streams  of  running  water  along 
whose  banks  timber  enough  is  generally  found  to  supply  the  wants  of 
the  inhabitant  in  improving  his  lands  and  affording  him  a  constant 
supply  of  fuel  for  present  and  future  consumption.  The  blending  of 
prairie  and  woodland  through  this  section  furnishes  the  eye  with  a 
scene  of  serene  and  marvelous  beauty,  and  while  the  natural  arrange¬ 
ments  of  the  scenes  presented  here  are  not  such  as  to  inspire  the 
mental  conditions  of  sublimity  which  one  would  experience  on  being 
thrown  in  contact  with  lofty  mountains,  deej)  canyons,  rushing  cata¬ 
racts,  frightful  precipices  or  the  vast  expanse  of  the  ocean  as  it  unfolds 

—  63  — 


LOUISIANA. 


itself  before  our  eyes  and  leads  to  the  recognition  of  that  infinitude  of 
power  which  awes  the  mind  with  its  terrific  grandeur,  and  reminds  us 
that  despite  our  great  knowledge  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  we  can  with 
our  finite  faculties,  take  in  but  a  moiety  of  the  mysteries  of  creation, 
and  render  subject  to  our  domination  so  small  a  share  of  the  rude 
forces  of  nature,  as  to  impress  us  with  the  impotency  of  our  strength. 

Yet  there  is  another  class  of  mental  conditions  which  arise  from  the 
contemplation  of  natural  objects.  It  is  one  that  imparts  serenity  to  the 
soul  and  pleasant  contentment  to  the  mind.  It  is  the  offspring  of  a 
sense  of  repose,  or  rest  in  nature,  and  produces  a  feeling  correspondent 
to  the  absence  of  domestic  troubles  or  cares,  in  a  well-regulated  and 
prosperous  family.  It  tends  to  smooth  down  the  rugged  spots  in  our 
natures  and  gives  to  our  feelings  that  placidity  and  calmness  which  are 
inspired  by  our  surroundings  when  nature  is  in  a  state  of  repose,  and 
the  earth  presents  none  of  her  rugged  and  scarred  places,  the  cicatrices 
of  ancient  catastrophes,  to  obtrude  upon  our  vision  or  ruffle  the  smooth 
current  of  our  sensibilities.  Such  are  the  impressions  produced  on  the 
mind  by  the  natural  phenomena  of  our  country  as  contrasted  with  the 
effects  of  the  scenery  of  some  other  places.  Ours  is  serene,  beautiful 
and  pleasing.  Theirs  is  awful,  sublime,  grand  and  ofttimes  terror- 
inspiring. 

But  there  is  another  consideration  which  weighs  heavily  in  favor  of 
Southwestern  Louisiana  as  a  dwelling  place,  and  that  is  the  superior 
advantages  of  its  soil  and  climate.  Here  one  is  not  troubled  with  heat 
and  cold,  as  in  other  more  northern  and  pent-in  districts.  The  gentle 
breezes  from  the  Mexican  Gulf  are  not  obstructed  by  the  interposition 
of  mountain  ranges  and  immense  and  impenetrable  forests,  nor  are  the 
sun’s  ray  reflected  by  the  rocks  on  mountain  sides  and  made  convergent 
on  the  valleys  beneath,  but  healthful  and  invigorating  fresh  breezes 
proceed  directly  up  the  plains  unopposed  in  their  march  inland,  dis¬ 
pensing  comfort  and  vigor  to  those  who  are  so  fortunate  as  to  have  cast 
their  lots  in  this  favored  clime.  The  thermometer  in  winter  has  an 
average  fluctuation  of  from  40  to  70  degrees ;  of  course  it  is  sometimes 
below  40 ;  it  even  goes  beyond  the  freezing  point ;  but  this  is  the  case 
for  only  a  few  days  during  the  winter,  and  the  rest  of  this  term  may  be 
said  to  be  free  from  frost,  and  life  is  pleasant  outdoors,  in  fair  weather, 
all  the  winter  through.  In  summer  the  mercury  ranges  from  80  to  96 

—  64  — 


LOUISIANA. 


degrees,  registering  the  latter  temperature  but  seldom.  Such  chronicles 
of  sunstroke  and  death  as  are  detailed  by  the  papers  published  in  New 
York,  Chicago,  Philadelphia,  Louisville,  St.  Louis  and  other  Northern 
populous  centers  are  things  which  never  occur,  even  in  New  Orleans. 

On  account  of  the  rapid  evaporation  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  the 
temperature  of  the  atmosphere  is  lowered  and  driven  inland  by  atmos¬ 
pheric  currents,  thereby  relieving  the  heated  term  of  much  of  the 
sultriness  and  oppressiveness  peculiar  to  climates  where  the  air  is  more 
rarefied,  rendering  the  nights  pleasant,  endurable  and  restful,  and 
making  it  possible  for  persons  to  engage  in  outdoor  labor,  without  detri¬ 
ment  to  health,  during  the  whole  of  the  heated  term. 


RAINFALL. 


SHE  average  annual  rainfall  is  about  60  inches,  and  of  quite  even 
distribution,  bestowing  immunity  from  the  excessive  drouths  of 
Western  Texas  and  portions  of  the  arid  districts  of  the  Northwest. 
It  falls  in  showers  during  summer,  and  though  protracted  spells  of 
showery  weather  occasionally  occur  it  hardly  ever  falls  in  such  volumes 
as  to  inflict  much  injury,  and  in  winter  it  seldom  becomes  too  wet  to 
prevent  the  prosecution,  in  some  manner,  of  the  ordinary  labor  de¬ 
manded  on  the  farm  at  that  season  of  the  year. 

The  soil  in  most  instances  is  extremely  fertile,  and  though  varied  in 
its  general  appearance,  and  character  as  to  constituent  elements,  it 
produces  good  crops,  with  results  generally  satisfactory  to  those  engaged 
in  its  cultivation.  In  the  alluvial  lands  are  to  be  found  several  varieties 
of  soil,  the  sandy  loam,  the  clay  loam — consisting  of  red,  black  or  gray 
clay  and  the  mixed  soil  of  sand  and  clay  loam.  All  of  these  soils  are 
extremely  fertile,  but  the  pure  clay  is  not  adapted  to  the  production  of 
all  kinds  of  crops.  It  is  fine  for  rice,  cotton,  corn,  cow  peas,  etc.,  but 
will  not  turn  out  the  quantity  of  sugar  yielded  by  the  less  tenacious 
soils. 

The  soil  in  the  prairies  is  in  some  places  a  black,  sandy  soil,  and 
ranges  in  color  from  a  black  to  a  grayish  soil,  and  is  generally  underlaid 
by  a  good  clay  subsoil  which  is  very  tenacious  of  manure,  and  for  this 
reason  is  susceptible  of  wonderful  improvement.  Along  the  eastern 

—  65  — 


SCENE  ON  THE  OUACHITA 


LOUISIANA. 


belt  of  this  prairie  section,  the  land  is  extremely  fertile,  and  produces 
in  profusion  all  the  vegetables  and  staple  crops  grown  in  this  latitude. 
Further  west  the  soil  is  not  so  fertile,  and  the  principal  and  most 
profitable  crop  grown  is  rice,  but  in  the  hands  of  the  intelligent  and 
systematic  agriculturist,  who  would  introduce  and  employ  the  improved 
methods  of  agriculture  and  pay  some  attention  to  supplying  the  wants 
of  his  land,  it  could  be  made  extremely  productive,  and  would  produce 
any  of  the  crops  grown  by  its  naturally  more  favored  and  contiguous 
sections  of  country.  The  land  contains  a  good  and  tenacious  clay 
subsoil,  and  a  judicious  use  of  the  cow  pea — the  clover  of  the  South — 
would  soon  enrich  this  soil,  supplying  it  with  the  elements  of  plant 
food,  and  make  it  produce  far  beyond  the  expectations  of  its  most 
sanguine  inhabitants. 

Our  pine  lands,  covering  the  western  and  northwestern  regions  of 
this  territory,  present  about  such  an  appearance  as  the  pine  forests  of 
other  sections  of  the  South.  They  are  generally  well  timbered  and 
watered,  and  possess  a  variety  of  hill,  bottom  or  hammock  lands.  The 
upland  or  hill  lands  are  not  profitable  for  agriculture,  but  are  good 
grazing  lands,  and  the  time  will  come  when,  apart  from  the  value  of 
the  timber  they  contain,  they  will  be  made  remunerative  to  their 
owners,  as  furnishing  ranges  for  vast  flocks  of  sheep.  The  hammock 
or  bottom  lands  of  this  section  produce  well,  not  only  vegetables  and 
the  staple  crops,  but  some  day,  when  they  become  accessible  to  lines 
of  transportation  which  must  in  the  future  traverse  this  country,  they 
must  contribute  to  the  world’s  supply  an  immense  quota  of  fruit  of 
such  varieties  as  the  fig,  peach,  pear,  quince,  several  varieties  of  the 
apple,  plums,  strawberries  and  grapes,  all  of  which  do  well  here  under 
intelligent  management.  The  prices  of  these  lands  are  to-day  almost 
nominal,  but  we  opine  that  it  will  not  be  far  in  the  distant  future  when 
they  will  rival  those  of  California  as  a  grape-producing  district. 


—  67  — 


LOUISIANA. 


PRODUCTS. 


SHE  staple  field  products  are  cotton,  corn,  rice,  sugar  cane,  oats  and 
potatoes,  both  Irish  and  sweet,  though  other  things  might  be 
profitably  raised.  Jute  and  ramie  and  barley  and  tobacco  grow 
well  here,  as  well  as  such  varieties  of  the  domestic  grasses  as  clover, 
red  top,  millet,  alfalfa,  lespedeza  or  Japan  clover,  and,  no  doubt,  in  the 
future  will  be  cultivated  to  a  considerable  extent,  when  the  people  of 
this  country  recognize  more  fully  the  necessity  for  diversified  agricul¬ 
ture.  All  of  the  esculents  grow  here  to  perfection,  and  could  be  raised 
with  profit  if  enough  people  would  engage  in  truck  farming  to  justify 
the  railroads  in  making  special  preparations,  as  is  done  on  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad,  for  handling  that  species  of  traffic,  and  thereby  enable 
them  to  offer  a  freight  rate  that  wrould  stimulate  and  encourage  invest¬ 
ment  in  this  line  of  business. 


Cotton,  sugar  cane  and  rice  are  our  most  important  money-producing 
crops,  but  they  are  affected  by  several  drawbacks,  viz. :  The  over-pro¬ 
duction  of  cotton,  and  the  low  prices  consequent  thereon ;  an  insuffi¬ 
ciency  of  sugar  refineries,  and  the  uncertainty  and  difficulty  of 
disposing  of  the  crop  at  remunerative  prices  after  the  corn  is  raised, 
and  the  absence  of  rice  mills  in  the  territory  where  this  cereal  is 
produced.  The  subject,  though,  is  now  undergoing  some  agitation,  and 
the  prospects  are  that  sugar  refineries  will  be  multiplied  and  placed  in 
greater  proximity  to  each  other,  thereby  affording  the  cane  raiser  the 
benefits  of  a  healthful  competition  for  his  produce,  and  presenting  to 
him  ample  opportunities  for  its  disposal.  The  spirit  of  resentment 
engendered  in  the  rice  producer  and  the  local  merchant  against  the 
action  of  the  proposed  recent  rice  trust  will  terminate  in  a  healthy 
state  of  affairs  locally,  and  eventually  result  in  the  erection,  by  home 
capital,  of  rice  mills  in  the  country,  at  several  important  points,  which 
will  relieve  the  rice  grower  from  the  manipulations  and  extortions  of 
the  city  mill  men. 

It  is  a  question  with  some  as  to  which  is  the  most  profitable  crop,  rice 
or  sugar  cane ;  but  to  one  conversant  with  the  cultivation  and  average 


—  68  — 


LOUISIANA. 


yield  of  both,  all  doubt  soon  becomes  dispelled  and  the  general  verdict 
is  in  favor  of  cane,  where  the  proper  facilities  exist  for  its  disposal.  It 
is  not  an  overestimate  to  assert  that  at  least  $50  will  result  to  the  cane- 
grower  as  a  net  profit  on  his  average  production,  while  with  rice  neither 
his  gross  sales  nor  his  average  profit  would  be  quite  so  large.  The  aver¬ 
age  yield  of  cane  per  acre  is  about  20  tons,  while  that  of  rice  is  about  12 
barrels.  Cane  is  worth  $4  per  ton  f.  o.  b.,  and  rice  ranges  in  price 
from  $2  to  $4  per  barrel,  so  we  may  fairly  estimate  $3  as  about  the 
average  price.  Now,  basing  our  estimate  on  the  above  figures,  which 
we  consider  about  fair,  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  the  profit  from  cane¬ 
growing  will  exceed  by  %  that  which  proceeds  from  rice-growing.  In 
the  last  six  years  the  production  of  rice  in  Southwestern  Louisiana  has 
increased  from  12,300  to  an  estimated  crop  of  700,000  barrels  of  161  lbs. 
each  in  1892,  and  the  prospect  now  is  that  the  crop  of  1892  will  nearly 
double  that  of  1891. 

There  are  men  in  this  section  of  the  country  who  have  engaged  in 
the  cultivation  of  rice  and  sugar  within  the  last  five  years,  who,  when 
they  began,  had  comparatively  nothing,  and  commenced  their  operations 
on  the  credit  system,  but  who  are  now  independent,  having  amassed  a 
handsome  competency,  and  who  have  invested  it  in  good  homes,  sur¬ 
rounded  with  all  the  comforts  and  pleasures  of  rural  life,  and  who  live 
there  under  their  own  vine  and  fig  tree,  a  life  of  prosperous  peace  and 
contented  ease.  They  have  fought  the  wolf  away  from  the  door  and 
established  themselves  on  a  solid  basis. 


SCHOOLS. 


COUISIANA  is  not  blessed  with  as  good  a  system  of  schools  as  is  to 
be  found  in  the  Northern,  Western,  and  some  of  the  Southern 
States,  but  has  good  school  laws,  and  a  spirit  of  intellectual  and 
moral  advancement  seems  to  be  awakening,  and  as  new  people  flow  in, 
and  the  country  becomes  more  thickly  settled,  and  its  resources  better 
developed,  marked  progress  in  the  way  of  education  and  the 
more  general  dissemination  of  knowledge  may  be  confidently  looked 
for. 


—  69  — 


SCENE  ON  THE  TESCHE  BAYOU,  LOUISIANA 


LOUISIANA. 


The  following  list  shows  the  total  receipts  from  all  sources  for  school 
purposes  in  Louisiana  for  the  years  mentioned : 


1884  . 1552,064  42 

1885  . 536,659  52 

1886  . 603,360  86 

1887  . : .  611,255  60 

1888  .  666,775  87 

1889  . 842,954  29 

1890  . . .  951,423  93 


The  sources  from  wThich  this  revenue  is  derived  are  the  current  fund 
of  one  and  one-eighth  mills,  the  16th  section  fund,  the  poll  tax,  fines 
and  forfeitures,  voluntary  contributions  from  police  juries  and  corpora¬ 
tions,  the  seminary  fund  of  4  per  cent  on  $136,000,  and  the  Agricultural 
and  Mechanical  College  fund  of  5  per  cent  on  $182,313.03. 

The  above  figures  speak  for  themselves.  Comment  is  unnecessary. 
They  certainly  show  that  the  State  is  improving  rapidly  in  her  means 
for  education. 

The  increase  of  population  in  the  State  of  Louisiana  from  1880  to  1890 
was  only  19  per  cent,  while  the  number  of  pupils  enrolled  in  the  public 
schools  of  the  State  for  the  same  time  increased  53  per  cent. 

Only  one  other  State  in  the  Union  did  as  well.  Virginia’s  increase  of 
population  was  9.48  per  cent,  and  the  increase  of  her  public  school 
attendance  55  per  cent. 

So  we  see  that  Louisiana  with  Virginia,  leads  all  the  States  in  educa¬ 
tional  progress. 


GAME  AND  FISH. 

IT  would  appear  as  if  all  the  ducks,  geese,  brant,  etc.,  in  America, 
flock  to  the  Gulf  coast  to  winter.  They  are  in  such  immense 
numbers  as  to  form  an  important  part  of  the  winter’s  meat  supply. 
To  say  that  the  rivers  are  full  of  fish  conveys  no  proper  conception  of 
the  facts,  unless  it  be  understood  literally.  Fish  of  the  choicest  varieties 
are  present  in  such  immense  quantities  that  they  will  eventually 
become  an  article  of  commerce. 

The  small  game  on  the  coast,  the  abundant  deer  in  the  pine  woods, 
and  the  fish  in  the  streams,  with  mild  winters,  make  this  country  the 
paradise  of  sportsmen. 


-  71  — 


LOUISIANA. 


On  the  newly-opened  Houston,  Central  Arkansas  &  Northern  Rail¬ 
way,  deer  are  plenty,  and  fish  are  abundant.  Trout  and  perch  can  be 
caught  easily  in  any  of  the  little  and  apparently  insignificant  streams 
between  the  Ouachita  and  Red  rivers.  The  country  is  very  sparsely 
settled  and  hunters  should  carry  their  supplies  along,  such  as  camp 
equipage,  etc.  The  country  is  one  vast  forest  of  pine,  oak  and  cypress, 
principally  pine,  between  the  above-mentioned  rivers. 


AS  OTHERS  SEE  US. 

Professor  Hilgard,  in  his  preliminary  report  of  a  Geological  Survey 
of  Western  Louisiana,  remarks: 

“Few  sections  of  the  United  States,  indeed,  can  offer  such  induce¬ 
ments  to  settlers  as  the  prairie  region  between  the  Mississippi  Bottoms, 
the  Nez  Pique  and  Mermentau.  Healthier  by  far  than  the  prairies  of  the 
Northwest,  fanned  by  the  sea  breeze,  well  watered — the  scarcity  of  wood 
rendered  of  less  moment  by  the  blandness  of  the  climate,  and  the  extra¬ 
ordinary  rapidity  with  which  natural  hedges  can  be  grown  for  fences, 
while  the  exuberantly  fertile  soil  produces  both  sugar  cane  and  cotton 
in  profusion,  continuing  to  do  so  in  many  cases  after  seventy  years’ 
exhaustive  cultivation — well  may  the  T£che  country  be  styled  by  its 
enthusiastic  inhabitants,  the  “Garden  of  Louisiana.” 

One  of  the  largest  and  most  intelligent  farmers  in  Central  Illinois, 
after  a  careful  examination  of  the  T6che  and  Attakapas  country,  said : 

"I  have  heretofore  thought  that  Central  Illinois  was  the  finest  farming 
country  in  the  world.  I  own  a  large  farm  there,  with  improvements 
equal  to  any  in  the  country.  I  cultivate  about  two  thousand  acres  in 
small  grain,  besides  other  crops ;  but  since  I  have  seen  the  T6che  and 
Attakapas  country  I  do  not  see  how  any  man  who  has  seen  this  country 
can  be  satisfied  to  live  in  Illinois. 

“I  find  that  I  can  raise  everything  in  Louisiana  that  can  be  raised 
in  Illinois,  and  that  I  can  raise  a  hundred  things  there  which  cannot 
be  raised  in  Illinois.  I  find  the  lands  easier  worked  in  Louisiana, 
infinitely  richer  and  yielding  far  more,  and  with  the  fairest  climate  on 
earth,  and  no  trouble  to  get  to  market.  I  shall  return  to  Illinois,  sell 
out,  and  persuade  my  neighbors  to  do  the  same,  and  return  to  Louis¬ 
iana  to  spend  the  remainder  of  my  days.” 


—  72  — 


LOUISIANA. 


The  editor  of  the  Chicago  Tribune ,  after  visiting  the  Teche  country, 
said  to  his  50,000  subscribers : 

“If,  by  some  supreme  effort  of  nature,  Western  Louisiana,  with  its 
soil,  climate  and  production  could  be  taken  up  and  transported  north, 
to  the  latitude  of  Illinois  and  Indiana,  and  be  there  set  down  in  the 
pathway  of  Eastern  travel,  it  would  create  a  commotion  that  would 
throw  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California  in  the  shade  at  the  time  of 
the  greatest  excitement.  The  people  would  rush  to  it  in  countless 
thousands.  Every  man  would  be  intent  on  securing  a  few  acres  of 
these  wonderfully  productive  and  profitable  sugar  planes.  These 
T£che  lands,  if  in  Illinois,  would  bring  from  three  to  five  hundred 
dollars  per  acre.” 


ORANGES. 

IN  Southwest  Louisiana  the  soil  and  climate  combine  to  make  this  the 
natural  home  of  the  orange.  Oranges  are  more  easily  raised  here 
and  are  of  better  quality  than  in  any  other  orange-producing  coun¬ 
try  in  the  United  States.  They  command  a  higher  price  on  the  American 
market  than  any  other  orange.  The  trees  grow  with  less  care,  and  bear 
profitable  crops  at  an  early  age. 

Travelers  who  have  eaten  the  oranges  of  Italy  and  those  grown  in 
Florida  and  California  unite  in  the  decision  that  the  golden-hued  fruit 
of  Louisiana  is  the  finest  flavored  in  the  world. 

For  decades  the  orange  tree  flourished  in  this  region  whenever  it  was 
planted,  or  came  up  spontaneously,  almost  without  care  or  attention. 
It  has  been  freely  admitted  by  men  from  Southern  California  that 
oranges  here  do  as  well  as  or  better  than  in  California. 

But  it  is  only  of  late  years,  since  the  once  wealthy  planters  have 
been  forced  to  market  their  fruit,  that  the  real  value  of  the  orange  as  a 
staple  article  of  commerce  has  been  recognized  in  Louisiana.  Groves 
have  been  planted,  the  most  improved  methods  of  cultivation  have 
been  adopted,  care  has  been  displayed  in  the  packing  and  handling  of 
the  fruit,  and  the  result  has  been  most  gratifying  in  a  pecuniary  point 
of  view. 

Orange  trees  commence  to  produce  merchantable  fruit  in  the  sixth 
year  from  the  planting  of  the  seed;  but  if  the  land  is  in  good  shape, 


73  — 


SAW  MILL  ON  THE  H,  C.  A.  &  N.  LINE, 


LOUISIANA. 


and  budded  or  grafted  trees  are  planted  and  properly  cared  for,  fruit 
may  reasonably  be  expected  within  two  or  three  years,  and  a  profitable 
crop  in  three  or  four  years.  The  yield  increases  and  the  quality  of  the 
fruit  improves  up  to  the  twentieth  year  of  the  Ijree^s  existence.  An 
acre  of  land  will  support  100  trees.  The  average  price  for  the  last  ten 
years  has  been  one  dollar  per  hundred  oranges,  the  purchasers  to  pick 
and  handle  the  crop  from  the  tree.  A  young  tree  will  produce  500 
oranges,  which  would  make  the  cash  return  from  one  acre  $500,  as  a 
minimum  calculation.  Many  orchards  easily  average  1,000  oranges  to 
the  tree,  making  an  income  of  $1,000  per  acre.  The  1891  crop  of  Mr. 
Bradish  Johnson’s  grove,  situated  on  the  Mississippi  river,  a  few  miles 
below  New  Orleans,  was  sold  for  $40,000.  This  includes  the  product  of 
eighty  acres  of  land  of  average  fertility. 

A  few  years  ago  the  owner  of  600  orange  trees  refused  $50,000  for  the 
grove,  and  the  same  season  sold  his  crop  of  oranges  for  $7,000. 

Mr.  Esau  Chadwell,  Cameron,  La.,  has  a  grove  of  1,500  trees  on  the 
shore  of  Calcasieu  Pass.  These  trees  are  six  years  old,  and  in  the  year 
1891  he  sold  his  crop  on  the  tree  for  $4.50  per  barrel,  and  they  aver¬ 
aged  one  barrel  per  tree,  giving  a  return  of  $450  per  acre ;  and  in  one  or 
two  years  the  crop  will  be  double  what  it  is  now. 

Five  acres  planted  in  orange  trees  will,  in  five  or  six  years,  support  a 
family  luxuriously.  No  wonder  orange  land  brings  $500  per  acre  in 
California,  where  it  is  all  taken  up.  But  in  Southwest  Louisiana,  where 
oranges  flourish  even  better  than  in  California,  good  orange  land  can 
be  bought  for  from  $30  to  $50  an  acre/  This  can  not  last  long,  however. 
As  soon  as  the  best  orange  land  is  taken  the  j$rice  is  bound  to  come  up 
rapidly.  Now  is  the  time  to  secure  a  location  while  land  is  cheap. 

One  great  advantage  over  California  is  proximity  to  markets.  South¬ 
west  Louisiana  is  only  a  little  over  600  miles  from  Kansas  City 
and  St.  Louis,  via  the  Iron  Mountain  Route,  while  the  Califor¬ 
nia  orange  groves  are  three  or  four  times  that  distance.  Besides, 
oranges  ripen  in  Louisiana  much  sooner  than  in  California  or  even  in 
Florida;  so  that  there  is  practically  no  competition  in  the  Northwestern 
cities,  except  from  foreign  countries.  This  assures  good  prices  for  all 
the  oranges  Louisiana  can  raise.  Then  why  should  any  one  contem¬ 
plating  orange  culture  go  to  California  and  pay  $500  per  acre  for  the 
land?  Southwest  Louisiana  is  destined  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  orange- 

—  75  — 


LOUISIANA. 


producing  regions  in  the  United  States,  and  her  orange  lands  will  be 
worth  as  much  as  or  more  than  those  of  California* 

The  cost  of  cultivating  oranges  is  about  the  same  as  that  of  apples, 
and,  on  account  of  the  uniform  temperature,  the  crop  is  subject  to  fewer 
contingences  than  any  fruit  crop  of  the  West  or  North. 

As  the  demand  for  Louisiana  oranges  is  always  greater  than  the 
supply,  every  year  finds  new  groves  planted,  particularly  in  the  south¬ 
western  parishes,  and  with  present  facilities  for  transportation,  the 
luscious  fruit  can  be  placed  on  sale  in  all  the  principal  cities  of  the 
United  States  in  perfect  condition.  The  superior  advantages  of  this 
region  are  attracting  a  very  intelligent  class  of  farmers,  and  in  a  short 
time  they  will  supply  the  entire  Mississippi  valley  with  the  finest 
oranges  in  the  world. 

The  orange  has  truly  been  called  the  “queen  of  fruits.’ ’  It  is  in 
demand,  and  eagerly  sought  after  in  all  quarters  of  the  world.  It  is  a 
recognized  fact  that  wherever  this  luscious  fruit  can  be  successfully 
grown,  there  money  can  be  made  in  large  amounts,  even  if  the  fruit 
must  be  transported  thousands  of  miles  to  find  a  market. 

Orange  culture,  more  than  any  other  cause,  brought  Southern  Cali¬ 
fornia  into  prominence,  and  caused  the  price  of  lands  suitable  for  this 
fruit  to  go  up  to  $500  per  acre.  The  orange  was  the  chief  cause  of  the 
heavy  immigration  to  Florida.  But  California  must  irrigate  her  lands 
in  order  to  success  in  this  industry,  and  Florida  must  fertilize  her  soil, 
and  in  many  cases  irrigate  in  order  to  succeed ;  while  California  must 
transport  her  oranges  thousands  of  miles  in  order  to  find  a  market, 
and  Florida  comes  into  Competition  along  the  Atlantic  coast  with  the 
oranges  of  Europe  and  Africa. 

In  Southwest  Louisiana  we  have  an  orange-producing  region  superior 
to  either  California  or  Florida  in  several  respects,  among  which  we 
mention  ease  and  cheapness  of  the  culture.  Here  we  need  no  irrigation. 
An  abundant  and  evenly  distributed  rainfall  supplies  all  the  moisture 
needed  by  the  trees  and  by  the  fruit.  All  that  is  needed  in  this  line  is 
thorough  drainage,  which  is  easily  and  cheaply  attained  on  the  orange 
land.  Then  the  soil  is  naturally  rich  enough  to  produce  a  rapid  growth 
without  fertilization  of  any  kind,  thus  saving  a  heavy  expense  in 
growing  the  orchard.  It  is  an  advantage  to  the  trees,  if  rapid  growth 
is  desired,  to  throw  wood  ashes  or  straw  mulching  around  the  roots  of 

—  76  — 


LOUISIANA. 


the  trees.  This  also  helps  to  keep  the  weeds  down.  It  is  also  a  good 
plan  to  sow  cow  peas  in  the  orchard,  which  should  be  turned  undej*  in 
the  fall. 

Another  point  is  the  excellent  quality  of  the  fruit  raised.  Oranges 
raised  in  Southwest  Louisiana  are  noted  for  their  thin  rind,  extraordi¬ 
nary  juiciness  and  luscious  flavor.  Even  seedling  oranges  rank  high  as 
to  size  and  quality  wherever  they  come  into  competition  with  oranges 
from  other  regions  in  the  general  markets.  When  the  better  varieties 
of  grafted  or  budded  fruit  are  planted  they  produce  the  most  excellent 
fruit  in  the  world.  Trees,  when  properly  attended,  grow  rapidly  and 
come  into  bearing  in  a  short  time.  Seedlings  will  commence  bearing 
in  from  three  to  five  years  after  planting  in  the  orchard  if  they  are 
properly  cultivated,  and  grafted  or  budded  trees  will  bear  in  from  one 
to  three  years  after  planting.  When  in  full  bearing  orange  trees  are 
prolific  bearers  and  rarely  ever  fail  of  producing  a  good  crop.  Frosts 
heavy  enough  to  kill  most  of  the  peaches,  pears  and  plums  do  not  pre¬ 
vent  a  fair  crop  of  oranges.  Oranges  are  grown  chiefly  on  lands  border¬ 
ing  on  the  east  and  south  of  lakes  and  large  streams,  and  are  protected 
by  the  dampness  from  damage  by  frosts.  There  are  many  thousands  of 
acres  of  first-class  orange  lands  thus  situated,  and  when  these  lands  are 
all  utilized  for  orange  culture  and  the  trees  are  in  full  bearing,  Louisiana 
can  largely  supply  the  Northwest  with  the  very  best  and  most  luscious 
oranges  in  the  world,  and  will  only  have  to  transport  the  fruit  from  400 
to  600  miles  to  find  a  market.  When  we  consider  that  100  orange  trees 
grow  on  one  acre  of  ground  and  that  the  trees  in  full  bearing  will  pro¬ 
duce  2,000  to  4,000  per  tree,  which  will  sell  for  one  dollar  per  hundred 
on  the  tree  or  twenty  to  forty  dollars  per  tree  when  in  full  bearing,  it 
will  be  seen  that  an  orange  orchard  is  enormously  profitable. 

Not  much  attention  was  given  to  this  industry  until  the  last  few 
years.  The  old  settlers  for  nearly  a  hundred  years  raised  oranges  for 
their  own  use  and  had  large  trees  that  sometimes  produced  as  many 
as  8,000  oranges  per  tree,  but  they  did  not  think  of  raising  oranges  for 
market.  But  a  few  years  ago  special  interest  began  to  be  taken  in 
this  industry,  and  now  there  are  thousands  of  orange  trees,  many  of 
them  coming  into  bearing,  in  this  region.  There  are  a  few  old  orchards 
with  large  trees  bearing  3,000  to  5,000  to  the  tree,  but  most  of  the  old 
trees  were  destroyed  by  scale  bugs  about  six  or  seven  years  ago.  These 


LOUISIANA. 


scales  attacked  the  trees  here  as  they  did  in  Florida  and  California, 
and  the  old  settlers  not  knowing  how  to  fight  them,  they  killed  most 
of  the  trees.  But  now  scale  bugs  do  not  prevent  the  growing  of  oranges 
here  any  more  than  they  do  in  California,  for  we  know  how  to  fight 
them  successfully,  and  the  people  are  rapidly  pushing  the  industry, 
and  the  prospect  is  that  the  culture  of  the  orange  in  Southwest  Louis¬ 
iana  will  rapidly  assume  enormous  proportions,  and  take  its  place  as  a 
money  crop  by  the  side  of  rice  and  sugar. 

Most  of  the  orange  lands  are  on  the  Calcasieu  river,  lakes  and  tribu¬ 
taries,  or  easily  connected  with  them  by  water  transportation  via  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  this  river  is  connected  with  the  great  Northwest 
by  the  K.  C.  W.  &  G.,  and  H.,  C.  A.  &  N.  Railroads,  so  that  oranges 
can  be  shipped  from  the  orchard  to  St.  Louis,  Chicago,  Kansas  City  and 
other  distributing  points  by  a  direct  line. 

There  are  thousands  of  acres  of  the  finest  orange  lands  yet  unoc¬ 
cupied,  which  can  be  purchased  at  a  low  rate,  considering  their  great 
.value.  Good  orange  lands  can  be  had  now  for  from  thirty  to  fifty 
dollars  per  acre.  Of  course  this  cannot  continue  long,  for  as  soon  as 
the  industry  is  fully  developed  the  price  will  go  up  like  it  did  in  Cali¬ 
fornia  to  $300  to  $500  for  the  best  lands.  Now  is  the  time  to  embark  in 
this  business  in  Southwest  Louisiana. 


LEMONS 

Also  do  well  in  Southwest  Louisiana,  and  what  has  been  said  in  regard 
to  the  cultivation  and  profits  of  oranges  is  equally  applicable  to  lemons. 

FIGS  AND  PERSIMMONS. 

FIGS  have  been  raised  in  Louisiana  ever  since  the  country  was  first 
settled,  but  it  is  only  recently  that  their  commercial  value  has 
been  realized.  The  common  Creole  fig  is  giving  place  now  to  the 
White  Adriatic,  Smyrna,  San  Pedro,  Brown,  Turkish  and  other  fine 
qualities  of  the  fruit.  A  fig  tree  begins  bearing  as  soon  as  it  begins  to 
grow.  In  three  }rears  it  begins  to  pay,  and  in  ten  years,  if  it  has  been 
properly  cared  for,  it  will  produce  twenty  bushels  of  the  fruit.  At 
present  figs  are  worth  $1.50  per  bushel,  and  if  properly  put  up,  they 
will  probably  yield  $1.00  per  bushel  for  years  to  come.  An  acre  of  100 

—  78  — 


LOUISIANA. 


fig  trees  ten  years  after  planting  produces  $2,000  worth  of  figs.  The 
trees  are  propagated  from  cuttings  and  have  no  insect  enemies. 

There  is  wealth  here,  as  well  as  health  and  happiness),  Awhile  you 
are  living  you  are  preparing  for  a  rich  inheritance.  This,  be  it  remem¬ 
bered,  is  in  the  most  favored  fruit  region  of  the  known  earth.  The 
fruit  of  California  is  produced  by  artificial  methods — irrigation.  Louis¬ 
iana  fruit  is  flavored  and  seasoned  by  natural  moisture.  Her  oranges, 
pears,  peaches,  berries,  and  entire  list,  is  well  known  to  be  superior, 
and  command  a  higher  value.  Her  fruit  is  earlier  than  California’s,  and 
one-third  of  the  distance  to  market.  Besides  the  native  cash  crops  of 
sugar  cane,  cotton  and  rice,  these  lands  will  raise  any  cereal  grown  on 
Delavan  prairie,  and,  properly  prepared,  just  as  much  of  it,  at  a  vastly 
better  price.  Ninety,  eighty  and  down  to  thirty  dollars  net  per  acre 
are  being  realized  every  year.  With  the  West  filled  up,  and  immi¬ 
gration  turning  en  masse  Southward,  as  it  now  is,  it  is  but  a  matter 
of  short  time  when  her  lands  will  rank  the  highest  in  the  Union. 

Official  statistics  prove  that  it  is  not  as  hot  in  the  Gulf  region  as  it  is 
here  in  midsummer.  The  record  for  the  past  five  years  shows  the 
following  mean  temperature:  January  52  degrees,  February  57,  March 
61,  April  68,  May  74,  June  80,  July  81,  August  80,  September  77, 
October  71,  November  58,  December  53.  Average  annual  68.  When 
the  people  talk  of  the  extreme  heat,  you  have  but  to  comfort  them  with 
the  above  official  figures.  What  more  equable  climate  could  possibly 
be  desired? 

It  is  a  fact  that  the  cost  of  living,  taking  the  year  through,  is  reduced 
two-thirds. 

Beside  fruit  culture  and  agriculture,  fortunes  are  annually  made  in 
vegetables.  You  can  grow  them  all  the  year  around,  and  ship  them  all 
the  year  around.  The  fancy  prices  paid  by  the  wealthy  people  of  the 
North  for  out-of-season  fruits  and  vegetables,  goes  directly  to  the  pocket 
of  the  Southern  grower.  But  little  capital  is  required  in  getting  a  foot¬ 
hold,  and  any  Northern  hustler  can  get  rich  in  five  years.  Education  is 
a  prime  consideration,  and,  in  short,  every  element  of  culture  and  good 
citizenship  obtains  to  high  degree. 

Concerning  the  time  of  the  year  to  go  South,  the  reader  has  but  to 
consult  the  above  reference  to  the  temperature,  and  he  will  readily  see 
that  one  season  of  the  year  is  as  good  as  another. 


—  79  — 


miltltions  OF  ACRES 


OF  Fine 

Timber  Lands, 

pii>e  pruit  Lai^dj  ®  ® 

— - AND - 

®  pertile  pa r/r\ir?<§  lai}d5 

FOR  SALE  CHEAP. 


Address  Company’s  Agents. 


Atlani 
S  i 


Linden 


Avingei 


Lassater 


V_KeIIyy.\ 

4ntVa^efferS0" 


Hallvill» 


VALUABLE  ASSISTANCE. 


The  following  Traveling  and  Passenger  Agents  of  the  MISSOURI  PACIFIC  RAIL¬ 
WAY  and  IRON  MOUNTAIN  ROUTE  are  constantly  looking  after  the  interests  of  the 
Line,  and  will  call  upon  parties  contemplating  a  trip  and  cheerfully  furnish  them 
lowest  rates  of  Fare,  Maps,  Guides,  Time  Tables,  etc. 

Or  they  may  be  addressed  as  follows  : 

ATCHISON,  KAN.— C.  E.  Styles . ,.. . Passenger  and  Ticket  Agent. 

AUSTIN,  TEX.— J.  C.  Lewis . . Traveling  Passenger  Agent. 

BOSTON,  MASS.— Louis  W.  Ewald . New  England  Pass.  Agent,  300  Washington  St. 

CHATTANOOGA,  TENN.— A.  A.  Gallagher . Southern  Pass.  Agent,  103  Read  House. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.— Bissell  Wilson . District  Passenger  Agent,  111  Adams  St. 

CINCINNATI,  OHIO— N.  R.  Warwick . District  Passenger  Agent,  131  Vine  St. 

DENVER,  COLO.— C.  A.  Tripp... 'Gen  T-  Western  Freight  and  Pass’ r  Agt.,  1662  Larimer  St. 

E.  E.  Hoffman . Traveling  Passenger  Agent,  1662  Larimer  St. 

HOT  SPRINGS,  ARK.— R.  M.  Smith . . .....Ticket  Agent. 

INDIANAPOLIS,  IND.— Coke  Alexander . District  Pass.  Agent,  7  Jackson  Place. 

JACKSON,  MICH.— H.  D.  Armstrong.: . .* . Traveling  Passenger  Agent. 

KANSAS  CITY,  MO.— J.  H.  Lyon . Western  Passenger  Agent,  800  Main  St. 

E.  S.  Jewett . . Passenger  and  Ticket  Agent,  800  Main  St. 

Benton  Quick,  Passenger  &  Asst,  Ticket  Agent,  1048  Union  Ave. 

LEAVENWORTH,  KAN.— J.  N,  Joerger . Passenger  and  Ticket  Agent. 

LINCOLN,  NEB.— F.  D.  Cornell . City  Passenger  and  Ticket  Agent,  1201  O  St. 

R.  P.  R.  Millar . Freight  and  Ticket  Agent. 

LITTLE  ROCK,  ARK.— August  Sundholm . Passenger  and  Ticket  Agent. 

LOUISVILLE,  KY.-R.  T.  G.  Matthews . Southern  Traveling  Agent,  304  West  Main  St. 

MEMPHIS,  TENN.— H.  D.  Wilson . Passenger  and  Ticket  Agent,  309  Main  St. 

J.  E.  Rehlander . Traveling  Passenger  Agent,  309  Main  St. 

NEW  YORK  CITY— W.  E.  Hoyt . General  Eastern  Passenger  Agent,  391  Broadway. 

J.  P.  McCann . Traveling  Passenger  Agent,  391  Broadway. 

OMAHA,  NEB.— J.  O.  Phillippi . Assistant  General  Freight  and  Passenger  Agent. 

Tho$.  F.  Godfrey . Pass,  and  Tkt.  Agt.,  N.  E.  cor.  13th  &  Farnam  Sts 

W.  C.  Barnes . .'. . Trav.  Pass.  Agent,  N.  E.  cor.  13th  and  Farnam  Sts. 

PITTSBURGH,  PENN.— S.  H.  Thompson . ....Central  Passenger  Agent,  1119  Liberty  St. 

PUEBLO,  COLO.— Wm.  Hogg . . . Com.  Freight  and  Ticket  Agent. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH— H.  B.  Kooser . Com.  Ft.  &  Pass.  Agt.,  21  Morlan  Block. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL— T.F.  Fitzgerald . Pac. Coast  Pass.  Agt.,  132  California  St. 

ST.  JOSEPH,  MO.— F.  P.  Wade . Passenger  and  Ticket  Agent. 

ST.  LOUIS,  MO.— B.  H.  Payne . . . Assistant  General  Passenger  and  Ticket  Agent. 

H.  F.  Berkley...... City  Ticket  Agent,  N.  W.*Cor.  Broadway  &  Olive  St. 

M.  Griffin  ...City  Passenger  Agent,  N.W.  Cor  Broadway  and  Olive  St. 

H.  Lihou . . Ticket  Agent,  Union  Station. 

W.  H.  Morton . Passenger  Agent,  Room  402,  Union  Station. 

WICHITA,  KAN.— E.  E.  Bleckley . Passenger  and  Ticket  Agent,  114  N.  Main  St. 


C.  G.  WARNER, 

Vice-President, 


W.  B.  DODDRIDGE, 

General  Manager, 


H.  C.  TOWNSEND, 

General  Passenger  and  Ticket  Agent, 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 


.THE 


CHEAT  SOUTHWEST 

SYSTEM, 

CONNECTING  THE  COMMERCIAL  CENTRES  AND  RICH  FARMS  OF 

MISSOURI, 


■  3fS  t 

THE  BROAD  CORN  AND  WHEAT  FIELDS  AND  THRIVING  TOWNS  OF 


KHNSHS, 


THE  FERTILE  RIVER  VALLEYS  AND  TRADE  CENTRES  OF 

NEBRHSKH, 

THE  GRAND,  PICTURESQUE  AND  ENCHANTING  SCENERY,  AND 
THE  FAMOUS  MINING  DISTRICTS  OF 

COLORADO, 

THE  AGRICULTURAL,  FRUIT,  MINERAL  AND  TIMBER  LANDS,  AND 
FAMOUS  HOT  SPRINGS  OF 

HRKHNSHS, 


THE  BEAUTIFUL  ROLLING  PRAIRIES  AND  WOODLANDS  OF  THE 

INDIHN  TERRITORY, 

THE  SUGAR,  COTTON  AND  TIMBER  PLANTATIONS  OF 

LOUISIHNH, 

THE  COTTON  AND  GRAIN  FIELDS,  THE  CATTLE  RANGES  AND 

WINTER  RESORTS  OF 

TEXHS, 

HISTORICAL  AND  SCENIC 

OLD  HND  NEW  MEXICO, 

AND  FORMS  WITH  ITS  CONNECTIONS  THE  POPULAR  ROUTE  TO 

HRIZONH  HND  CHLIFORNI7T. 


